Family and friends are mourning the lives of two local high schoolers killed in an early Saturday car crash. One of them was a well known all-state basketball player.

Gainesville Police say 16-year-old Dante Anderson, a top athlete at Eastside High School, and 16-year-old Curtis Hampton Junior, died in the single-car accident. These two promising young lives were cut short in what is a sad lesson for us all. Police say it's the result of speeding and reckless driving. They say the night started out at a hip-hop concert, and ended in tragedy.

A witness says the 4 boys were headed to a late night hangout, but may have been a bit too anxious to get there. It happened on Southwest 13th Street, right across from City College. Authorities say Anderson lost control of his car when he tried to go around another vehicle. He drove up onto the median. That's when the car crashed into a palm tree. The tree then fell on the car.

Police say Anderson and back seat passenger, Curtis Hampton Junior, died at the scene. The two survivors were rushed to Shands Trauma Center. One is in critical, the other in stable condition.

"The way the two on the drivers side were pinned, you just couldn't even really imagine them even making it. It was just really scary, a scary situation," says an eye witness.

Anderson played basketball at Eastside High School and was one of the 2006 Final Four Most Valuable Players.

By Thalia Hayden, WCJB TV20 News