2019 State Tournament: Broward County programs 8-0 at final four

<p><strong>Broward County</strong> programs are dominating at the 2019 Boys State Basketball Tournament in Lakeland.</p> <p>Fort Lauderdale Dillard and Pompano Beach Blanche Ely earned hard-fought state semifinal victories Friday to run Broward's record at the RP Funding Center to an impressive 8-0.</p> <p>Broward schools won three state titles Thursday. Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy won its third consecutive Class 4A title; Davie University School, which has a good shot to make GEICO Nationals for a second straight year, repeated in Class 5A; and Fort Lauderdale Stranahan in 6A claimed its first state championship in school history.</p> <p>Saturday, Broward will have a shot to bring home the hardware in five of the FHSAA's nine classifications. Dillard will be playing for all the marbles in 7A and Ely is gunning to repeat in 8A.</p> <p>If Dillard (21-6) can take down Crestview at 2 p.m. Saturday, it would give <strong>Darryl Burrows</strong> and Co. three state titles in the past four years. Burrows has won seven state championships at the helm of Dillard.</p> <p><strong>Melvin Randall</strong> will look to remain one up on Burrows when Ely does battle with Bradenton Lakewood Ranch at 4:30. Randall has won a state-record eight championships. He won two while at Deerfield Beach and six more as the Tigers' head coach.</p> <p>Randall said Friday's last-minute victory over Windermere ranks at the top of his all-time wins at Ely. The Tigers did not lead in the game until <strong>Malachi Hazelton</strong> hit two free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining to knock off second-year Windermere.</p> <p>“We’ve never trailed by that much at the state tournament since I’ve been at Ely,” Randall said. “This was the first and I hope it’s the last. That game there at Ely, I put that at the top. My kids had to dig deep. I had to dig deep.”</p> <p>Blanche Ely (24-6) has won 17 consecutive games since losing to Hillsborough on Jan. 5 at the Charger Classic at Suncoast High School.</p> <p><em>If you have high school basketball news, you can reach Pat Lammer via text at 954-661-9671.</em></p>