LAKE WORTH – For the first time in 23 years, the Lake Worth boys basketball team is headed to the FHSAA State Final Four.
Led by junior guard Calvin Sirmans, the Trojans (21-3) handled the Osceola Kowboys from start to finish in this past Friday night’s (Feb. 25) 75-57 road win.
Sirmans finished the Class 7A-Region 3 title game with 20 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. He spoke on how he helped Lake Worth reach its first State Final Four since 1999.
“It was a hard fought game,” Sirmans said. “I couldn’t really find my rhythm in the first two quarters. But Marvin Golf and my team found a way to keep us around until I finally found my rhythm in the third and fourth quarters.”
Golf, the Trojans junior forward, led his team with 26 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks against the Kowboys (20-6 final record).
“Marvin Golf is a big piece to the team,”Sirmans said. “I mean a big piece. When I’m not playing as well as I should, he’s always willing to step up and play big. But the best thing that he does is score and rebound. He was a really big piece on how well we played our last game.”
Lake Worth coach Derrick Franklin chimed in about Golf’s performance.
“The Team MVP has been Marvin Golf all year,” Franklin said. “He willed us to win. His eight offensive rebounds led to his own score or assist. He’s our heart, our all-guts-and-none-of-the-glory guy. Guys like him don’t come around often. He’s special. He has that rare ability – especially in the high school game – to do it all.”
Franklin also spoke on Sirmans, who has been mentioned as quite possibly the best overall player this basketball season in Palm Beach County.
“He was 100 percent from the line and 60 percent from the field,” Franklin said of Sirmans. “That’s production.”
Franklin delved even further on Sirmans.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Franklin said. “He’s a very smart lead guard. The games are not to high for him, and he doesn’t get low. His court-savvy and swag sets him apart. His energy is infectious and take us to a different level. He has a larger-than-life image, and when teams see him, they’re like, ‘Okay we got him’, and then next thing you know he goes off and has 22 and 10 on you. Then you understand who Calvin “Bobo” Sirmans really is.”
While Sirmans and Golf were the Trojans top two performers against the Kowboys, Franklin realized this was a total team effort.
“It started on defense,” Franklin said. “We came in with a game plan after watching them on film and we knew we could match up with them person for person. We did a better job getting in transition. We were just trying to get easy buckets, and when the time came, we could spread the floor because we have a young man in Calvin Sirmans, who puts tremendous pressure on the opposing team’s defense.”
Now with a few days to prepare for the State Final Four, Lake Worth will need to elevate its team game even further at RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
The FHSAA has re-seeded all four regional winners in all classifications for this week’s slate of state semifinal and state title games. For Class 7A, Lake Worth is the No. 3 overall seed and will be facing off against No. 2 overall seed Columbus (Miami) (27-2) on Friday, March 4 at 2:30 p.m.
The Lake Worth-Columbus winner will advance to the 7A state title game on Saturday, March 5 at 8 p.m.
“For us to win in Lakeland we need to stay true to who we are,” Franklin said. “We need to stay together while doing it. We are a very versatile team and we can play at any pace. So we need to stay the course. We will be well-prepared. We played a tough schedule just for this moment to get to Lakeland.”
Sirmans concurred.
“It will take everyone coming together as a team playing hard,” Sirmans said. “It’s going to take everyone knowing what their roles are to help and do them to a T. And lastly, it will come down to who just wants it more.”
NOTES: Lake Worth is the only boys basketball team from Palm Beach County that made it to the State Final Four.
St. John Paul II (17-11 final record) came close to joining Lake Worth in Lakeland this week. But in the Class 3A-Region 3 title game on Feb. 28, the second-seeded Eagles dropped a 58-55 decision at home to the fourth-seeded Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy Tigers (19-11).
Palm Beach County started out with 13 boys basketball teams in the opening round of the FHSAA state playoffs. Then it was trimmed to seven area teams for the FHSAA regional semifinal round before it went down to just two area teams – Lake Worth (7A) and St. John Paul II (3A) for the FHSAA regional final round.
PHOTO CREDITS: Future Draft Style
