Lakewood Ranch basketball advances to regional final

The Lakewood Ranch boys basketball team beat Palmetto 85-58 on Tuesday night to advance to a Class 8A regional final on Friday.

Senior Sam Hester and juniors Evan Spiller and Damien Gordon all had 15 points against Palmetto. Lakewood Ranch used two big runs (19-2 and 19-4) to open up the game.

Palmetto never threatened once down by double-digits, only able to shoot 37 percent from the floor in the face of the Mustangs' stingy defense. 

The Mustangs will host St. Petersburg, the school that knocked them out in a regional final last season, at 7 p.m.