Riviera Prep boys flip the script for return to state basketball final

It could have been deja vu — and a painful one — for the Riviera Prep boys’ basketball team Wednesday afternoon.

Not only were the Bulldogs down by a point with only seconds remaining.

Not only was this happening in Lakeland’s RP Funding Center for the second consecutive season.

But the scoreboard also had Riviera Prep losing by the same score it did in last year’s state final.

This time, the Bulldogs wrote themselves a different ending for the story.

Myles Fuentes’ running shot in the paint with 1.1 seconds left tipped the outcome in Riviera Prep’s favor as the Bulldogs closed out a 68-67 victory over Tampa Catholic in a Class 3A state semifinal.

Riviera Prep (26-6) will now play for a state championship for the second consecutive season when it takes on Windermere Prep on Saturday at 10 a.m. in the 3A final.

“No matter how many points we were down and no matter the situation, I knew these kids were going to stick together,” Riviera Prep coach Anthony Shahbaz said.

The Bulldogs, who lost 67-66 to Tallahassee Florida High in the school’s first state final last year, found themselves in a similar predicament after watching a 10-point fourth quarter lead evaporate when Tampa Catholic’s Eddrin Bronson swished a three-pointer with 19.7 seconds left.

Riviera Prep called a timeout with just over 13 seconds to go.

“We knew it was similar in the back of our minds, being down by 1 in the same place, same situation,” Shahbaz said. “But something just felt different. During the timeout, we weren’t panicking or screaming, we just said, ‘Here’s the play. Here are our three options and let’s just make it happen.’ ”

Sophomore Dante Allen, who led the Bulldogs with a team-high 19 points and six rebounds, took an inbounds pass in the backcourt and dribbled into the frontcourt, drawing a 1-on-1 matchup with Crusaders guard Karter Knox.

Allen, the son of Miami Heat assistant coach Malik Allen, could have tried to make the game-winning play himself. But instead, Allen trusted two of Riviera’s youngest players in

Fuentes and his brother, Mason, a freshman, to create something. Allen dished the ball to Mason on the wing, who started to drive and then found his brother streaking into the paint. Myles got the better look and bounced a ball off the back rim and backboard and in.

“We just trusted each other,” Myles Fuentes said. “Dante coming down court, he could have tried to play hero ball. But he trusted me and my brother and I found an open spot.”

The Bulldogs thought it was over right there but didn’t engage in any heavy celebration as the referees determined there were 1.1 seconds left to play. A three-quarter court pass landed in Knox’s hands, allowing him to put up a quick turnaround three-pointer, but it missed the mark.

“Even when the refs said there was more time, we didn’t celebrate,” Allen said. “[Knox] got a great look, but if we had been celebrating, maybe he would have been more open or closer to the basket. We always have to stay ready.”

Myles Fuentes shot 7 for 10 from the field and totaled 15 points while Mason had 11 points. But the unsung hero of the game, as Shahbaz said afterward has been the case often this season, was senior Joachim Radcliffe Ametepe, who totaled 13 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Radcliffe Ametepe was key in helping Riviera

Prep rally from an early nine-point deficit and use a 10-0 run to take the lead in the third quarter.

“Coach just gave me a job and I went and did it,” Radcliffe Ametepe said.

Radcliffe Ametepe is one of two senior starters for Riviera Prep’s predominantly underclassmen-led team. The Bulldogs’ youth doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of experience, however, as several of their players were a part of last year’s state runner-up finish.

“Although we are a young team, these four guys [Allen, the Fuentes brothers and Ametepe] have played about 1,000 basketball games already in their careers between travel ball, high school and team camps,” Shahbaz said. “These guys have been down 25, 20, and always at least give themselves a chance to win the game.”