Middleton, Fla. — The Villages High School boys basketball team once again laid claim to a district title Saturday night in Middleton.

The Buffalo captured their sixth straight district championship with a thrilling 70-68 victory over Eustis in the Class 4A-District 6 Tournament finale, holding off a late rally from the top-seeded Panthers in front of a standing room-only crowd at VHS.

Chris Washington Jr. scored 16 points to lead four scorers in double figures for The Villages (17-11), who now look ahead to the Class 4A-Region 2 quarterfinals on Feb. 15. The site, location and opponent will be revealed during the FHSAA Selection Show on Sunday afternoon.

"I'm just so proud of this team and who they've become," VHS head coach Colt McDowell said. "We really put them through one of the hardest schedules we possibly could've, but they never backed down. They could've easily quit and ran away from the hard (things), but they ran into them instead and came out better for it."

VHS led 19-11 through one quarter of play, with Washington showing an assertiveness on the offensive end of the floor to lead the way. The star sophomore forward tallied nine first-quarter points, while also playing strong defense on Eustis stalwart guard Jayveon Dale in the process.

Eustis sank a trio of 3-pointers — and a handful of other difficult shots — in the second period to keep pace and pull within 37-30 at halftime, despite the Buffalo playing solid defense and contesting on nearly each shot attempt in the first half.

The Panthers finally broke free in the third quarter, outscoring VHS 21-14 in the period to knot things at 51-51 entering the fourth. Eustis buttoned things up defensively and settled into its full-court press to force a few turnovers out of the Buffalo, who made just four shots from the floor in the quarter.

That set up a back-and-forth duel in the fourth, as the two teams traded the lead multiple times over the final eight minutes of regulation. VHS kept itself ahead with four 3-pointers in the fourth, none bigger than a pair of makes from Ben Koubek in the back half of the period.

The Buffalo appeared to be in good shape when Jared Thompson stepped to the line with 39.1 seconds remaining and VHS leading 70-64, needing just one free throw to extend the lead to three possessions. But after a pair of misses, Eustis junior Timothy Key hit all three of his free throws — after drawing Thompson's fifth foul — with 30 seconds left to make it 70-67.

A turnover by VHS on the ensuing trip down the floor gave Eustis a chance to tie, but McDowell elected to call for a foul and send Dale to the line with 5.4 seconds remaining. He hit the first free throw but missed the second, with a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer by Anthony Hines rattling off the rim to send the Buffalo spilling onto the floor in celebration.

Adyn Corbin finished with 13 points for VHS and both Jared Thompson and Aaron Britt, Jr. each added 12, while Hines finished as the leading scorer for Eustis with 18 points.



Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.