Two Seminole Athletic Conference products, Lake Howell’s Chandler Parsons and Winter Springs’ Luis Jacobo, have been in the news nationally for their exploits on the college basketball court again this week.

Stetson's Jacobo and Corey Walden have been named to the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Freshman Team for the 2010-11 season after a vote by the league's head coaches.

The Hatter teammates become just the third pair of teammates to make the All-Freshmen Team in the last seven years. The Jacksonville duo of Ben Smith and Lehmon Colbert made the five-man squad in 2006-07. One season later, Adnan Hodzic and Josh Slater made the team from Lipscomb.

Jacobo finished up his inaugural season third on the team and 28th in the league in scoring at 9.2 points per game and third on the team in rebounds with 4.0 per game. In league games Jacobo finished 19th with 11.4 points per game and was 11th in 3-point field goal percentage at .380. He also registered two double-doubles on the year.

Jacobo was also named the Atlantic Sun conference Newcomer of the Week for the week ending February 28. It is the second Newcomer of the Week award of the season for the freshman forward out of Sanford.

Last Saturday, in the final game of the year, Jacobo scored a career-high 28 points and equaled his career-high of 11 rebounds en route to his second double-double of the season. He was 8-of-19 from the field, 5-for-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 7-for-7 from the line. Jacobo also added three assists, two blocks and a steal while playing all 40 minutes of the game. The 28 points was also a team-high scoring total for any Hatter this season. Stetson won the game 70-62 at home against Jacksonville.

On the week Jacobo averaged 19.0 points, eight rebounds, and 2.5 assists to take home the award.

Meanwhile, in Gainesville, the No. 14 Florida Gators, led by seniors Parsons and Vernon Macklin with 19 points apiece, had a stellar second half en route to a 78-51 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Tuesday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. With the win, Florida clinched at least a share of its first SEC regular season title since the 2007 National Championship season.

The senior trio of Parsons, Macklin and Alex Tyus accounted for 50 of the Gators’ 78 points. Florida had four players in double figures, as sophomore Kenny Boynton and Tyus contributed 14 and 12 points, respectively. Parsons’ 19 points was a season-high and, with 11 rebounds on the night, earned the 14th double-double of his career.

The teams had an even first half, heading into halftime with 30 points apiece. The Gators’ largest lead of the first half was only four points, as both squads took time to warm up from beyond the arc. Florida started 0-for-10 for three-pointers before finding their stride, nailing eight treys out of their next 11 attempts.

There were seven ties and 10 lead changes in the contest, but the Gators began their momentum shift out of intermission, taking the lead for good with Parsons’ jumper in the first minute of the second stanza.

It was certainly a tale of two halves, as Florida came out of the intermission on a 5-0 run, extending an 8-0 lead that was sparked by Boynton’s trey with 19 seconds remaining in the first half. Parsons began to get into a rhythm, scoring eight points in three minutes to give the Gators a 12-point lead with under 10 to play.

A dunk by Macklin with less than eight minutes to go put the Gators in the driver’s seat, as Florida went on a 9-0 run, which featured two Erving Walker treys. Overall, the Gators outscored the Crimson Tide, 48-21, in the second half.

While the Gator offense was impressive in the second half, the defense was aggressive on the glass, with Florida outrebounding Alabama 19-13 in the second half, including 14-4 in defensive boards. The Gators converted 15 points off turnovers, including nine in the second half.

Florida hits the road for its final regular season SEC game, as the Gators take on the No. 20 Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium today (Saturday) in Nashville, Tenn. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN.

Meanwhile, things did not go as well for a couple of other former Seminole Athletic Conference stars.

Sanford resident and Winter Springs graduate Lorne Merthie, a junior guard, missed his eighth straight game because of knee injury and his Campbell University teammates missed their second-leading scorer on the season as Atlantic Sun Conference player of the year Mike Smith stole the ball from Junard Hartley with 3.1 seconds to go and No. 2 seeded East Tennessee State (22-10) held off a furious Campbell rally to defeat the Camels (12-19) 54-53 Wednesday night in the A-Sun tournament quarterfinals at the University Center in Macon, Georgia.

At the 2011 FHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at The Lakeland Center, former Lake Howell High School standout and coach Reggie Kohn and his Orlando Christian Prep squad saw their hopes of a fourth straight state championship end at the hands of West Palm Beach Summit Christian (27-4), 42-41, in a Class 1A Semifinal Wednesday afternoon.

The Warriors (24-6) had won 26 consecutive playoff games and 54 straight games against Class 1A competition coming into the tournament.