Jalen Haynes dominates in 2nd half to send Dillard back to boys’ basketball final four

Not even three minutes were gone in the second quarter of the Region 4-6A boys’ basketball championship and Malik Reneau was looking to the Mater Academy Charter bench again. The star sophomore, who already holds scholarship offers from the Miami Hurricanes and Oklahoma State Cowboys, had just picked up his fourth foul. He still hadn’t scored and he was trudging back to his sideline with Mater Academy starting to fall behind Dillard.

“Coach Burrows said they have no answer for us inside,” said Jalen Haynes, who drew Reneau’s fourth foul, “so I’m looking to score every possession.”

The Panthers post player stepped to the free-throw line and knocked down 1 of 2, and then he went to work. Haynes exploded for 10 points in the third quarter, 20 in the second half, and the star post player finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and two assists to send Dillard back to the final four with a 71-58 win against Mater in Hialeah Gardens.

Reneau, who spent more than half the game on the bench because of foul trouble, finished with one point on a free throw with 1:36 left.

The Panthers, who lost in the Class 7A championship last year in Lakeland, will travel back to the RP Funding Center on Thursday for the Class 6A semifinals against Lake City Columbia. Dillard (23-7) is back in the final four for the fourth time in five years and two wins away from an eighth state championship.

“It feels great, man,” Haynes said. “We came with one goal, on a mission to get back to Lakeland and win it this year, so that’s our goal.”

For a half, the Lions (25-5) survived without Reneau. Mater jumped out to a 12-6 behind a barrage of three-pointers. Ryan Sanchez drilled one, then fellow guard Michael Bradley sunk back-to-back to force the Panthers to take an early timeout.

Even in the opening quarter, Reneau was glued to the bench for about half of it. Once the lane was open, Dillard started to feed Haynes. He scored four points in the final two minutes of the quarter and the Panthers went into the second quarter down just 14-12. By halftime, Dillard had erased another six-point lead to go into the break tied 31-31. Reneau, whom the 247Sports.com composite rankings peg as the No. 37 prospect in the Class of 2022, already had three fouls.

“We were fortunate that the big kid picked up some fouls in the first quarter,” Burrows said, “because he can really go.”

The coach switched to man-to-man defense coming out of halftime and the Lions couldn’t get the same sort of looks from the perimeter. Mater didn’t score its first field goal in the second half until 3:18 was left in the third quarter. By then, Dillard had built a 41-32 lead it would never let go.

Haynes’ takeover began on the first possession of the quarter. The senior forward opened with a spin move in the post for an easy layup to give the Panthers a 33-31 lead. His next post touch drew Reneau’s fourth foul and sent Haynes to the free throw line to stretch Dillard’s lead to 38-31.

Haynes, who claims an offer from the Mississippi State Bulldogs, scored eight of the Panthers’ last 10 points in the quarter to give Dillard a 47-42 lead going to the fourth quarter.

“They didn’t have an answer inside,” Burrows said, “and that’s really where our strength has been really all year.”

The Panthers scored on six straight possessions from the end of the third into the fourth and Haynes flashed all of his ability as Dillard pulled away in the last eight minutes. He threw home transition dunks. He used his spin move as a go-to move against overmatched post defenders. Haynes even pulled off a Euro step in transition to thread his way to the rim for a layup to give the Panthers a 67-51 lead with less than two minutes left.

Wings Asonaba Bromley and Darryl Burrows, the coach’s son, added 13 and 10 points respectively for Dillard. And then the celebration was on at midcourt in the Mater Academy Charter School gymnasium for everyone who made the trip down from Fort Lauderdale. Last year, Haynes and the Panthers felt what it was like to come up short. Now they’re already to take the next step.

“He’s gotten better,” Burrows said. “That was one of the things that we really worked on. We knew he was good, but our goal, obviously, is to get him better.”

Miramar 37, Western 35

Just when it looked like Western was going to steal a road victory over Miramar in the Region 4-7A final to earn its first state final four berth, Michael Lott said not today.

Lott’s dramatic offensive rebound and putback off a missed free throw from Faheim Meran with 19.3 seconds left helped Miramar rally for a 37-35 victory over Western. Deshawn Jean-Charles (13 points) and Meran (14 points) were the headliners for Miramar up until that point but it was Lott’s hustle which secured the Patriots third final four appearance and second in three seasons under coach Tramaine Stephens.

“I had to get that rebound.” Lott said. “It was the biggest play of my career so far. This was a very physical game. We studied real hard for them. We knew it was going to be a tough fight. This game came down to defense and effort and playing hard. Anybody that is coming to play us will have to work hard because we are coming.”

Western’s scoring ace Garrett Anderson put Western up 35-34 with 45 seconds left off a spin move and layup. Meran was fouled on the ensuing possession but missed both free throw attempts, leading to a brief gasp from the Miramar faithful before Lott muscled inside for the putback, leading to a capacity Miramar crowd dancing in the stands. Anderson got a last chance to put Western ahead out of a timeout with 12.7 seconds left but his off balance shot fell short with 3 seconds left.

Miramar will face the Forest Hill-Park Vista winner at the Lakeland Center on March 6 at 2:30for the right to advance to he 7A state championship game on March 7 at 8 p.m.

Friday marked Western’s first berth in the Regional finals after losing in the first round in its first five appearances.

Miramar came in winners of 10 of its last 11 games, including 83-68 over Coral Gables in the region semifinals. It was a defensive struggle for both teams in the first half with neither team able to mount a sustained offensive spurt. The result was a 22-17 halftime lead for Miramar with Meren leading the way with 10 points, highlighted by a three-point play off a two handed dunk with four seconds left in the second quarter.

-Fabian Lyon, Special to the Herald