Fontainebleau senior guard Spencer Ardis hit a last second free throw and senior Taylor Hanby posted a game-high 19 points to propel the Bulldogs past the Warren Easton Fighting Eagles 48-47 in a game played Wednesday in the 2008 Skipper Classic.

With 48 seconds left, Hanby drove to the hoop and was fouled. He missed the first free throw, but drained the second one to give FHS a 47-45 lead.

Following an FHS time out, Hanby who appeared to play good defense against Warren Easton’s Lionel Causey, who drove the baseline was called for his fifth foul. Causey sank both pressure packed free throws to knot things at 47-all with 22 seconds to go. On FHS’ inbounds pass, Quin Cooper got the ball to Matt Orlando.

FHS' Taylor Hanby dunks early in the fourth quarter against Warren Easton in the Skipper Classic Wednesday night. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

After FHS pushed the ball up court, Ardis was fouled, sending him to the line with 1.8 ticks left. His first free throw rattled around the rim before rolling off. Ardis regrouped and swished the next freebie to record the one-point 48-47 victory as Warren Easton’s final desperation shot from beyond mid-court missed the mark.

Ardis talked about his trip to the free throw line. “I knew I had to send the free throws down to win the game. I wasn’t thinking about any pressure with the game tied. I knew I just needed one to win it,” Ardis said.

“The first one felt good, but I was even more confident on the second one. The first one rattled out. This is a great win for us,” Ardis added.

Both clubs got off to a slow start with Warren Easton holding a 9-8 lead after the first quarter. Hanby, who had five points in the period, hit a lay up with 24 seconds left to cut the margin to one.

Warren Easton’s James Perry scored seven of his nine points in the second period as the Eagles outscored Fontainebleau 17-16 to take a 26-24 halftime lead.

FHS’ Anders Grunditz nailed two 3-pointers in the second quarter for the Bulldogs.

The third period didn’t feature much offense with Warren Easton taking a three-point lead 36-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

FHS’ Hanby got the Bulldogs’ bench and crowd aroused when he dunked the ball off a feed from Jason Green to cut the lead to one at 36-35 with 7:39 left.

Hanby, who helped control the boards and bodied up inside, talked about his dunk.

“That felt great. They were double teaming everybody with the ball so I slipped to the backside. The dunk really got us back into the game,” Hanby said.

The Hanby dunk energized the Bulldogs, resulting in a 13-point run.

After the dunk, following a Warren Easton miss, Hanby converted a lay up on another assist from Green to take the lead. Green later grabbed a rebound and pushed the ball up court, hitting a short jumper in the lane with 6:04 to give the Bulldogs a three-point advantage, 39-36. Green then delivered a trey with 5:36 remaining to push the lead to six. Green finished with 10 points, including those five key points in the fourth quarter.

Fontainebleau coach Barry Dotson said Warren Easton was shooting a little quicker in the second half and that played to his club’s advantage.

“The tempo of the game increased and that helped us. Early on the game was too slow for us. We went zone when we got the lead to make them shoot a little perimeter. They took a few bad shots and we were able to capitalize,” Dotson said.

Warren Easton’s Elijah Ijeh topped the Eagles with 12 points.

Causey added 10 followed by Perry with nine and Lance Theard with eight.