Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Multiple champs
Two South Florida high schools win boys basketball titles.
LAKELAND — It all started in the offseason — when a group of talented transfers joined the core Calvary Christian already had with one mission in mind. Mission accomplished. The Eagles won their first state basketball title with a 65-48 victory over Tampa Catholic in the Class 5A championship game at the Lakeland Center on Saturday morning.
Calvary coach Cilk McSweeney, in his fourth year, transformed the Eagles from a team that once lost a game by 67 points his first season to a state champion.
“Just having talent on paper [doesn’t make it] an easy thing,” McSweeney said. “To be able to bring these guys together and have their personalities and the team mesh and to be as one team, that’s the rewarding thing.”
McSweeney becomes the first Broward coach to lead a team to a state championship after winning one as a player (Dillard, 2001).
The Eagles played their patented suffocating style of defense, holding Tampa Catholic to 23-percent shooting after the Crusaders’ 92-point output in the semifinal. Crusaders fivestar senior Kevin Knox was held to 24 points after dropping 40 on Wednesday. Knox fouled out with under two minutes remaining.
Calvary (24-6) finished the third quarter on a 12-0 run to pull ahead 41-30 and counter Tampa Catholic’s momentary 1-point lead with a 15-4 run of its own. Butler signee Jerald Butler, Calvary’s leading scorer who came over from Westminster Academy, was instrumental during the charge. He scored 22 of his game-high 25 points in the second half on Saturday after picking up three fouls in the first.
“I was like, ‘Alright, now I’ve got to start attacking.’ It seemed like the holes were opening up,” said Butler, who last year lost in the title game with Westminster. “I didn’t want to have the same feeling from last year.”
Junior forward Soloman Uyaelunmo, who with his brother, senior 7-footer Victor Uyaelunmo, transferred to Calvary last year from Miami Gulliver Prep, scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. He also guarded Knox most of the game.
“To win a state championship with my brother, it feels awesome,” Soloman said. “I love this team. We’ll have our problems, our arguments, but we’ll step onto the court and be like one, together.”
Sparked by Uyaelunmo, the Eagles went on a 9-0 run in the first quarter to give them an early lead. Victor Uyaelunmo, a Southern Cal signee, went for 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Calvary’s run to state as a district runner-up included road victories first at Class 5A’s top-ranked St. Andrew’s, then over University School — which a week and a half earlier won District 14-5A over the Eagles on their home court — and finally a blowout over Gulliver. Lockdown defense then catapulted Calvary to the championship in a 39-20 semifinal victory over Marianna.
The Eagles’ Saturday morning victory followed Westminster Academy’s 4A title on Friday night.