It’s the matchup everyone hoped for last year, but it didn’t happen.
In the 2023 Class 1A boys basketball state semifinals, Hawthorne played Chipley while Williston faced Franklin County (Eastpoint). The winners met for the state title.
Williston defeated Franklin County, 54-37, to advance to the title game, but Chipley knocked off Hawthorne, 49-46, in the other state semifinal.
A couple of nights later, the Red Devils defeated Chipley, 58-49, to win their first state championship in program history.
At 6:10 p.m. on Wednesday, the defending state champion Red Devils (10-0) will meet Hawthorne (3-0) on a neutral floor at the Kingdom of the Sun tournament at Vanguard (Ocala).
Hawthorne coach Greg Bowie said when the invitation was extended to play in the KOS he asked who was going to be there.
When he was told Williston, he said he would participate if they could match up against the Red Devils on the opening day of the tournament.
“Because I know they’re playing great ball,” Bowie said. “Jim’s (Ervin) doing a great job with that program, coming off a state title run last year.”
It will mark the first meeting between the two teams since February 2022.
Two years ago, then-freshman C.J. Ingram made a pair of free throws with 3.1 seconds left to ice the game for the Hornets, who defeated Williston, 49-46, in the Class 1A-Region 4 Semifinals.
Hawthorne ended up advancing to the final four in Lakeland that year, falling to eventual state champion Bradford (Starke), 53-35, in the 1A state semifinals.
This will the ninth appearance at the KOS for the Red Devils, who are 8-16 all-time.
Five players average double-figures for Williston.
Senior Kyler Lamb (6’6) leads the Red Devils with 16.8 points per game, followed by senior Javon Brown (6’6) (13 ppg, 8.3 apg), sophomore Deandre Harvey (15 ppg), senior Aramys Rodriquez (12 ppg) and sophomore Reggie White (11 ppg).
Last week, Williston defeated Houston County (Warner Robins, GA), 63-45, and Greenforest (Decatur, GA), 55-49, at the Battle off of Exit 18 tournament at Lowndes High School in Valdosta (GA).
Lamb scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Red Devils against Houston County, while Harvey, who finished with 16 points, led the way with 22 points against Greenforest.
This will be the eighth appearance for Hawthorne at the KOS with an overall record of 11-10.
Last Friday, the Hornets played just their third game of the season, but at times they looked like a well-oiled machine in a 69-59 win at P.K. Yonge.
“You can see it in spurts,” Bowie said. “The first three minutes we actually looked like a pretty good basketball team and I was wondering, ‘is this my team right here,’ but then there were moments when it came to situational basketball and you could probably see that the continuity is not there right now.”
Ingram scored a game-high 30 points against the Blue Wave. He leads the Hornets in scoring (26.3 ppg), rebounds (9.0), and steals (3.3), and is tied for first with 2.7 assists per game.
Senior Caleb Rollerson, who scored 13 points, is second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), followed by junior Decarion Debose (9.0 ppg, 2.7 assists) and USF football signee Alvon Isaac (7.7 ppg), who scored 12 points against P.K. Yonge.
Currently, Williston is ranked No. 1 in Class 1A by MaxPreps while Hawthorne is ranked fourth.
“I kind of want to see where we’re at,” Bowie said. “Coming off a state title run last year, right now they’re the measuring stick in our class.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast online (audio only) at Mainstreet Daily News beginning at 6 p.m.