BY WORTHY EVANS CONTRIBUTING WRITER FLORENCE — Saturday’s 3A lower state championship game at the Florence Center marked the fourth time Fox Creek and Keenan played each other this season. For the third time in the four meetings, the Predators got the best of the defending 3A champion Raiders in a 75-68 victory. Fox Creek (25-5) plays Christ Church for the 3A state championship at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia Friday at 3:30 p.m. Christ Church beat Mountain View Prep 61-47 for the upper state championship Friday night. Five Fox Creek players scored in double figures, with junior Justin Vining leading the way with 18 points. Junior Randy Robinson had 13 points, junior Chuck Schwarz scored 12 points, and seniors Chanze Allen and Keori Atwell had 11 points apiece. “Randy Robinson had a great first quarter, a great first four minutes of the game,” second-year head coach Tim Butler said. “Justin Vining is an incredible point guard, I don’t think he can get enough credit. I wanted to go deeper on the bench but the guys got so hot I couldn’t really go into it. Our seniors and juniors and these guys put their egos aside and came into one. I just love this group.” Those starters felt the heat themselves from the red-hot shooting of Keenan sophomore Antoine Caughman , who had 22 points before fouling out with 5:25 left. Senior Broderick Anderson Jr. and junior Marcus Simpson Jr. had 13 points. While Fox Creek maintained a steady lead throughout the game, the opponents’ familiarity with one another kept the Raiders within striking distance. “It’s incredibly difficult,” Butler said about facing a rival for the fourth time. “Those guys came with a different look and we weren’t prepared for it for a little bit, and they also hit some good shots, some big shots. We thought that when No.4 fouled out, they were going to go away, but they never did. That’s a testament to their coaching staff and their focus. That’s a great team.” Even though the game’s top scorer was on the bench and Fox Creek led 57-46 at the time, the Raiders managed a 10-1 scoring run late in the game. That run brought Keenan from being behind 64-51 at the 2:02 mark to a 65-61 deficit with 1:02 left to play. Only a late technical foul called after a personal foul disrupted Keenan’s rally. Those errors brought Allen to the line for both sets of foul shots and he made all four to give the Predators a 69-61 lead. Keenan was still not finished. In the final 37 seconds the Raiders got a 3-pointer and two additional baskets from Anderson to make it 71-68 with 11 seconds left. By then the Raiders were forced to foul to stop the clock, and Vining and Kobe Sims were both 2-for-2 at the free-throw line to close out the win. “That’s a well-coached team,” Butler said. Coach Zach Norris does a great job and those kids are incredible talents and basketball players. They’re all probably going to play college basketball, and they just never quit.” Coach Norris was not on the court after being suspended from coaching for a rules violation last summer.  Assistant Alex Harper , who was the acting head coach this season, said he last talked to Norris before the game. He said Norris talked about will and desire to be the intangible factors of the game. “Will and desire. Just trying to get the kids on the same level,” Harper said. “Whatever team wants it most is going to win, and that’s pretty much what it came down to, will and desire. (Because of Norris’ suspension), I feel like everybody counted us out but we still made a push. We still had a chance to make it, we just didn’t get over that hump.” Harper added that his team’s fouls hurt the Raiders chances of victory. “We talked about it all season, we have to play without fouls,” Harper said. “I’m not going to say it’s the ref’s fault, but we just had to play without fouls and that’s not what we did today.” The Predators indeed capitalized on their many trips to the foul line. Fox Creek was 9-for-11 from the foul line in the first half, and a whopping 27-for-33 in the second half for a total of 34-of-44 for the game. Keenan by contrast was 6-for-9 from the free-throw line in the first half and 12-for-14 in the second half for an 18-for-23 total. Being doubled up on foul shots hurt the Raiders’ ability to overcome the Predators, who led 35-25 at the half. “It goes back to you’ve got to play without fouling,” Harper said. “They were able to build a 10-point lead on us in the first half just with us fouling.” The Predators join 4A lower-state champion North Augusta in the action this week at Colonial Life Arena. The Yellow Jackets (26-3) beat Bluffton 57-38 Saturday to play South Pointe in the 4A state final Saturday at 6. “North Augusta gets a lot of credit, they’re a great, well-coached team,” Butler said. “But now we’ve got two teams from North Augusta to get to play for a state championship, and it’s a great feeling.”