Tigers' time? Winners of 20 straight, Jackson roars into boys basketball final four

Watching his team's every move from the sidelines inside a Monday practice at UNF Arena, James Collins never takes a moment off.

Playoff basketball never gets easier, no matter how many times you win.

"People think because we went five times in six years, it's easy," the longtime Jackson head coach said. "No, each year is harder and harder to continue to do this. So we're very fortunate, and we've worked hard for this moment."

Gritty, resilient and racking up wins by the dozen, Jackson stands two wins away from a championship entering Thursday's Florida High School Athletic Association Class 4A boys basketball semifinal against The Villages Charter.

Tip-off is 3 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

For Collins, this final four is about a little bit more, part of life as a shrinking species: final-four public schools at FHSAA championships outside the large-school 6A and 7A categories.

"There's not many public schools left to hang around for these tournaments," he said, looking on as Tigers sprinted in packs of five down the court.

He's proud to represent Jacksonville in an age where down-state private-school superpowers have often ruled. And he's proud to do it at the school where he won it all during his playing days, winning the FHSAA Class 2A championship and the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award in 1993 on his way to Florida State University.

For Jacksonville, those memories are growing more elusive by the year. Playoff basketball, the books show, is getting harder than ever for the First Coast.

While Bradford won the Class 1A title in 2022, no school inside Jacksonville has lifted an FHSAA boys basketball trophy since Bolles in 2016. For the city's public schools, the drought stretches back two decades, to Raines in 2004.

Maybe, senior Jaylen Dopson says, it's time to change that.

"We're just going to stay focused and try to get the job done," he said. "Coming back to Jacksonville winning state, it hasn't been done in many years. So we're going to try to break that history."

JACKSON: A COMPLETE LINEUP

What's the recipe for a 20-game winning streak? Start with focus and balance.

"We've become a complete team, and that's what's contributed," Collins said. "You can't key on any guy and say we're going to lose if he doesn't score."

If not for a mere handful of points, the Tigers might have completed the year perfect. Jackson suffered all three of its losses in the first month, all by a single score: 53-52 to Dougherty of Georgia, 59-56 to Creekside, 48-45 to Ribault.

Since that loss to the Northside rival Trojans, nothing has stood in their way.

"Our whole mindset changed after losing that game, like we can't lose any more as a team," senior Ronald Durham said. "Thanks to our coaches pushing us 100 percent every day after that loss, it just got better and better."

Ribault played them close, 49-46 in the Gateway Conference semifinal, and so did St. Petersburg Gibbs, which went down 52-48 in a Jan. 5 game that could potentially preview Saturday's championship. But most foes have wilted decisively against the Tigers' stifling, grinding pressure.

"Our coach is real intense on defense," Dopson said, "so that's really what we focus on."

DANGER OFF THE BENCH

For Jackson under Collins, depth is a trademark.

The Tigers swarm from all directions and score from all angles, and the starting lineup is just one piece of the puzzle.

"It's a wonderful thing when you have that kind of balance," Collins said. "It might be two guys off the bench that give you double-digit points."

More often than not, one of those is Dopson, who might be the most valuable sixth man in the Sunshine State with 9.9 points per game. He particularly excelled in the regionals, scoring 22 points from the bench against Bolles and 18 more against Ribault.

On a team that often fields a dozen players or more, there's no shortage of options.

Start with Durham, a 12.6-per-game athlete with the athletic gifts to run the court and the power at the rim to finish with authority, can turn up anywhere. Then there's Jahari Simmons from the 3-point line, Octavious Lawson and TayVion Lawson on the inside, Albert Laguerre with his five rebounds per game in a 6-2 frame.

STINGS FROM NEAR MISSES

One look back at recent years provides more than enough motivation for Tigers like Durham, who played on the 2021 and 2022 final-four squads.

"I've come home empty-handed twice," he said.

The near misses that leave a particular sting for Collins are 2020 and 2021, both years when the Tigers looked capable of winning it all.

In 2020, they turned ice-cold from the field in the final four minutes and lost the final to Boca Raton St. Andrew's, 57-50. The 2021 championship drive dissolved in a flurry of fouls, 37 in all, in a 79-71 loss to Bishop McLaughlin. Four Tigers fouled out in the tightly-called game, a parade to the free throw line in which Bishop McLaughlin received 49 free throws.

Then, after a 2022 final loss to a super-strong Calvary Christian, came last year. Jackson slumped to 15-13, and for a year, Ribault became the king of the Northside. The Tigers have spent a whole year regaining that crown.

"I feel like the last couple of years that happened, stuff wouldn't go our way and we'd fall apart," Durham said. "So I feel like we're prepared. We've been through a lot these last two years. Whatever we come up against, we'll be ready for it."

They'll have to be ready for an ESPN 25 recruit on Thursday. While Jackson's lineup has drawn little recruiting buzz, it's the opposite for The Villages Charter, where analysts rank sophomore forward Chris Washington Jr. among the nation's top prospects for the 2026 class.

"The key for us is to play our style of ball and not theirs, to dictate what we do and not let them dictate what we do," Collins said. "I think we'll end up winning if we do what we do well."

There's no giant like a Calvary Christian standing in the path of the Tigers, now seeded No. 1. No injuries to derail their course. No reason to expect a sudden slump.

Jackson's year? Could be. But after enduring a host of hard knocks in his road to 297 career wins, Collins knows not to take anything for granted in playoff basketball.

"This year, I think there's a balance [in Class 4A]," he said. "I don't think there's a clear favorite, everyone's pretty much at the same level. And whenever you have that, you've got a chance to win."

Class 4A boys basketball semifinal

Who: Jackson (25-3) vs. The Villages Charter (20-11)

When: 3 p.m. Thursday.

Where: RP Funding Center, Lakeland

The skinny: The depth and energy of the Tigers will face off against the Buffalo, which previously eliminated a Northside school (Ribault) from last year's final four. The big threat from The Villages: sophomore forward Chris Washington Jr., already ranked in the ESPN 25 for the 2026 recruiting class. He averages 16.0 points and 7.4 rebounds, and he has scoring support from sophomore Jared Thompson (10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds) and junior Adyn Corbin (10.0 points, 3.3 assists). The winner would play Saturday against North Broward Prep or St. Petersburg Gibbs.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Andrew Jackson boys basketball: Tigers enter FHSAA final four