Orlando, Fla. — The Villages High School boys basketball team will play for yet another regional championship.
The Buffalo took down Lake Highland Prep, 66-53, in the Class 4A-Region 2 semifinals Tuesday night in Orlando, earning a hard-fought road win to advance into Friday's regional final.
VHS (19-11) will hit the road once again for a 7 p.m. tip Friday at Palm Bay in Melbourne, where the Buffalo will seek their second straight regional title and the program's fourth in the last seven seasons.
"I'm just so proud of everyone involved with our program," VHS head coach Colt McDowell said. "The growth and the improvement ... I couldn't be prouder. But all the glory goes to God, and I'm just so thankful and appreciative to be the head coach of this team."
The postseason battle began on the defensive end, as both squads were held scoreless for the opening four-plus minutes of action.
VHS eventually broke through for a 13-5 lead through one quarter of play, thanks to five early points from Jomar Bernard.
A 3-pointer by Bernard extended the Buffalo advantage to 21-9 early in the second quarter — the largest lead of the first half — before Lake Highland Prep used a 6-0 run to cut the gap to 21-15 with 3:45 to play in the period.
But a trio of free throws by Ben Koubek served as a worthwhile response for The Villages, who scored five of the last seven points of the half to lead 26-17 at the break.
"We took one of the best teams in the state at running offense, and we took them out of anything they wanted to do offensively," McDowell said. "(Lake Highland Prep) is good and they're tough, but our kids are good and tough, too. We showed that from the first quarter to the fourth quarter."
The two teams traded threes and twos throughout the majority of the third period, which kept VHS in front at 48-38 through three quarters.
RJ Ingram knocked down four 3-pointers in the penultimate period, but seemingly each time was answered by a VHS drive to the hoop.
Koubek hit the final trey of the third period, splashing a key 3-pointer from the wing at the buzzer to allow the Buffalo to hold onto a 10-point advantage entering the fourth.
It was much of the same in the final quarter, as Ingram scored nine more points — finishing with a game-high 25 — but VHS kept its poise and showed its grit time and time again.
Chris Washington Jr. tallied seven points over the final eight minutes and Aaron Britt, Jr. added five, as VHS pushed ahead toward Friday's regional final.
"Our players and our coaching staff were locked in from Saturday until now for this very moment," McDowell said after the win. "Our scout team, I have to give them a ton of credit because they ran their stuff for four days. Everybody put something into this (victory)."
Washington finished with 16 points and 17 rebounds to lead VHS, while Bernard and Jared Thompson each had 12 points and Britt finished with nine.
Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.
