Blazer Basketball came through with their first season sweep of Out-of-Door Academy since the 2012-13 season when both the varsity girls and boys swept the Thunder. Earlier in the year the Blazer girls (58-50) and boys (60-52) won at ODA, while the Blazers also took the wins at home Friday evening (55-21 & 61-58). To make it a clean sweep, the JV boys team also took both match-ups (58-51 & 79-34). 

The boys varsity game was close throughout as neither team could mount much of a run offensively. The Blazers biggest lead came in the last minute of the 1st quarter as they would score four straight to lead by five points before surrendering a basket and ending the first quarter with a 3 point lead at 17-14. Both teams battled back and forth throughout the second quarter, with the Blazers taking a 1 point lead into the half after Junior Cale Zeltwanger found the rebound with 3 seconds left, turned and put it back up and through the hoop to go into the half 28-27. The third quarter saw the Thunder in solid control as they built up their biggest lead to 8 at 40-32 with a minute and twelve seconds to go in the quarter. But, the Blazers would come roaring back into the game with two free throws by Senior Ben Milliken, followed by a steal off the press that ended in two free throws by Zeltwanger to drop the lead to four with a minute left in the third. The Thunder would get a quick basket by Senior Allen Clark before back-to-back baskets by Blazer Freshman Drew Sirianni cut the lead to 2, adding the and-one after being fouled on the second basket to go into the fourth quarter down by only 1 point at 42-41. The fourth quarter saw both teams score game high's with neither team being able to pull away. The Blazers were able to build another five point lead as they'd take a 48-47 game and Senior Justin Brock would drive through the lane for a quick 2 and then steal a ball off the press and quickly put it up to put the score at 52-47. But the Blazers couldn't pull away as the Thunder came right back, cutting the lead to 1 at 59-58 with 12 seconds to go. After using a few fouls, the Thunder put Ben Milliken on the line as the Blazers hit the bonus. Milliken would calmly hit both free throws, going 6-6 in the game, to make it a three point game and end up sealing the game for the Blazers. When asked how it felt to drain the final free throws that made it a three point game, Ben Milliken said "He felt fulfilled, knowing the amount of work that he has put into free throws this season and how they paid off in sealing this victory". The Blazers had the most team game of the year with four players in double figures, and two scoring 8. Noah Spenn registered his fourth double-double of the season behind a 10 point, 11 rebound effort.

The win moves the Blazers to 11-7 on the season as they begin this week with a match-up against 6-10 Desoto County on Tuesday at 7pm before heading to Winter Haven this weekend to play in the Sunshine State Athletic Association's 6A Championship bracket. The Blazers are the #3 seed and will face #2 Eagle's View (12-4). The winner will advance to Saturday's 6A Championship against the winner of #1 Out-of-Door Academy (9-3) and #4 Life Christian (6-5) at 4:30pm.

Top Scorers:

• Drew Sirianni: 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
• Travis Miller: 11 points, 5 rebounds
• Ben Milliken: 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals
• Noah Spenn: 10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, double-double (4)
• Justin Brock: 8 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
• Cale Zeltwanger: 8 points, 4 rebounds