A fiery start for Hagerty turned into a nail biter Thursday night as the Huskies kept the edge over St. Petersburg in the 8A semifinal, 57-51.
All first quarter points for Hagerty(24-8) came from beyond the arc with SAC Player of the Year Denzel Mahoney hitting three for his team to jump out to a 18-6 lead.
The Green Devils (24-9) turned up the defense switching to man-to-man in the second quarter to hold the Huskies to just six points and cut the lead down to two going into the half.
Pro Wells turnaround jumper at the midway mark in the third gave St. Pete their first lead since the opening minutes.
The lead did not last long as Alex Keel returned the favor knocking down a three at top of the key to tie things back up at 33.
It was Isaac Nze’s fourth quarter baseline jumper that put Hagerty up by eight and created enough room to hold off the St. Petersburg attack.
Denzel Mahoney led the team with 24 points with Alex Keel(12) and Isaac Nze(11) finishing in double digits.
Travis Bianco had 14 points and pulled down nine boards for St. Petersburg.
Hagerty will now advance to the 8A State Championship game Saturday night at 8:30pm against Wellington High School.
This is the Huskies third appearance in the last four years in the state tournament.