MOORE HAVEN – For three quarters it looked like the Moore Haven High School boys basketball team’s season would end. But after trailing most of the night, the Terriers clicked when it counted most and surged past visiting Fort Meade High School to win the Rural Class District 8 championship, 51-47, on Feb. 7, 2025.

The victory clinched a spot in the FHSAA regionals for the Terriers (13-7), who will face Hawthorne (16-3), from Alachua County, in a regional semifinal Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Moore Haven will host the game.

Clifford Love (23 points) and the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Shakur Williams (10 points) helped ignite the comeback for the Terriers, who erased an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Moore Haven coach Ravin Lee said his team played the fourth quarter just like it practices.

“That was epic, but that’s the way we practice. We practice 24/7 to be able to finish the game,” he said.

Lee won district titles as a player at Clewiston High School. He said he wanted his players to know that feeling of being a champion.

“These kids work so hard,” he said. “I want them to experience what I experienced in high school. They got a memory tonight. I talk about my memory 12 years ago; they’re going to talk about this memory for a lifetime. You can’t take it away from these kids; they earned it.”

For Williams, winning the district title with Lee as his coach brought extra special meaning.

“It means a lot,” said Williams, a 6-foot guard who is among the team’s strong core of juniors. “I’ve been with the coach since sixth grade, so for me, it means everything…It’s real special to [win the championship] with him because he’s been with me for my whole basketball career.”

Fort Meade used a balanced shooting attack to dominate the first half, which included a 14-2 lead six minutes into the game. Fort Meade led 27-18 at halftime.

A strong start in the third quarter – led by Williams – showed that Moore Haven was determined to keep its season alive. Williams and Kendavion Holligan (11 points) hit 3-pointers early that helped trim the deficit to five, but Fort Meade generated a surge of its own and built a 13-point cushion before Williams made a jump shot late in the quarter. Fort Meade led 40-29 heading into the fourth.

Moore Haven played like a different team in the fourth with a ferocious defense that caused turnovers and prevented the good looks that Fort Meade had earlier in the game. Meanwhile, the Terriers offense that found its rhythm low and high. Williams and Love ignited the rally. Love was unstoppable with 13 points in the quarter. Williams had a steal and layup, and threw a perfect court-length bomb to Clarence Hunter, who made a layup that gave Moore Haven a 45-41 lead.

Trailing 48-47, Fort Meade had a chance to go ahead but was called for a charge with 20 seconds left. A layup by Holligan and a last second free throw by Hunter sealed the victory for the Terriers.

Williams said playing tougher defense helped fuel the rally.

“We just had to play defense. They were knocking down everything. For us, it was, one stop, a bucket; one stop, a bucket. That’s what we needed to do. We perfected it; we executed it; and we won the game off of that,” he said.

The Seminole Tribe is represented on the team by Williams, Greg James and Thaddeus Johns. James did not see any playing time and Johns played a few minutes.