Riviera Prep advances to state with win over Westminster Academy
Riviera Prep faced multiple factors on Friday night that could often derail even the best basketball teams.
Playing on the road in a mostly hostile environment. Facing a familiar opponent hungry for payback.
But the Bulldogs have spent the past three seasons growing accustomed to overcoming all sorts of challenges.
Led by junior guard Dante Allen, a four-star prospect who finished with a game-high 23 points, Riviera Prep weathered an early storm from Westminster Academy and emerged with a 75-60 victory over the Lions in the Region 4-3A final.
The game pitted two of the top five teams in the state according to the FHSAA’s power rankings.
But it was the Bulldogs (23-8) who continued to own the series between the two state powerhouses as they beat Westminster Academy for the third consecutive season in the regional finals.
“They gave us everything they had over those first three quarters, but again our defense has been our staple for many years,” Riviera Prep coach Anthony Shahbaz said. “In the second half, it came up big. The kids hit big shots and played for one other. They were giving us some hard fouls and playing hard. But we kept our calm and focus and stayed with it.”
Riviera Prep, which will take on Tampa Berkeley Prep on Wednesday at 3 p.m. in a Class 3A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, will seek to win back-to-back state titles as it makes its third consecutive trip to the final four.
Friday night’s had a “state championship” feel to it, however.
Numerous Bulldogs fans who made the drive up from Kendall to Fort Lauderdale, and lined up in multiple rows behind the Riviera Prep bench, made the atmosphere in Westminster’s gym even more energetic and evened the odds a bit in the stands.
But in the end, the battle on the court is what mattered.
Westminster Academy (23-6) went toe-to-toe with Riviera thanks to Alex Costanza’s 22 points and Alex Lloyd’s 15 points. But Lloyd picked up his third foul with 5:50 left and fourth foul just 23 seconds later, forcing him to sit through a critical stretch.
With or without him, the Lions struggled to contain the Bulldogs’ frontcourt as junior center Gustavo Guimaraes totaled 20 points and Jeremy Jenkins delivered eight more, often on second-chance points.
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Region 4-5A final — Miami Norland 69, Rockledge 48:
The Vikings (19-10) advanced to the state final four for the first time since 2015. Norland will be the top seed in the Class 5A state semifinals and face Cape Coral Mariner on March 6 at 1 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
The Vikings, who have the second-most state titles of any Miami-Dade County team, will attempt to win their seventh championship.
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Region 4-7A final — Columbus 71, Miami High 42:
They are the future of Miami basketball … but they play the game in an old-school way.
The Columbus Explorers advanced to the Class 7A state semifinals with a resounding win over Miami High at FIU on Friday.
Columbus (26-4), which is ranked No. 1 in 7A, is attempting to win its third straight state title. The Explorers will face Orlando Evans on March 8 at the RP Funding Center in
Lakeland at 11 a.m.
On Friday, Columbus made just four 3-pointers. Instead of bombing away from deep, the Explorers started the game with a full-court press, and — after trailing 6-5 — they went on a 22-4 run, which ended any suspense as to the outcome.
“We knew they were going to hold the ball, so we wanted to trap and cause chaos,” Columbus coach Andrew Moran said. “We wanted to get turnovers and get out on the break.
“That was the emphasis tonight — get in the paint. Even on the 3s that we did make, we had guys attacking and then kicking out.”
Columbus’ Jase Richardson, a 6-3 senior combo guard who has signed with Michigan State, led all scorers with 21.
Also for Columbus, the Boozer twins combined for
33 points as Cayden scored 17 and Cameron added 16.
Cameron Boozer, a 6-9, 235-pounder, is ranked the No. 1 junior in the nation, the No. 1 power forward in his class and also No. 1 in Florida overall.
Cayden is ranked the No. 17 player in the nation, and both of the twins are weighing offers from Duke, Kentucky, Miami, Florida and Florida State.
This game marked the end of the season for Miami High (23-9). The Stingarees went 23-6 since a troubling 0-3 start.
The Stings on Friday were led in scoring by Absalon Cortes (11 points), Jean Joseph (nine) and Romari Robinson (eight).
— WALTER VILLA
Region 4-4A final — North Broward Prep 49, Mater Lakes 37:
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Nearly a year to the day after they suffered a brutal five-point loss one step short of the state final four, the Eagles returned to the same gym to play the same team hoping the result would be different on this night.
That’s exactly what happened.
Thanks to a combination of great defense and perhaps their opponent having a disastrous shooting night, North Broward Prep turned the tables on defending 4A state champion Mater Lakes on Friday night.
“This group went through a tough experience last year, they remembered what it felt like after that game and I think they learned from that,” North Broward Prep coach Casey Wohleb said. “We had a little rough patch during the season but these kids kept working their tails off. Their confidence kept growing and growing, they stuck with it and now we’re playing really good basketball right now. This is a really confident bunch of guys.”
The loss avenged the Eagles’ 58-53 loss to the Bears in last year’s region final and they made some history in the process as they earned the program’s first ever trip to the state final four. North Broward Prep (24-7) will head to the RP Funding Center in Lakeland as the No. 2 seed and take on No. 3 St. Pete Gibbs in a 4A state semifinal on Thursday at 11 a.m.
To say the Eagles, the No. 3 seed in the region, earned their trip to Lakeland would be an understatement.
In a three-day span they went on the road and stunned Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian 50-48 on a tip-in as the buzzer sounded. Then came Friday’s hostile atmosphere as NBP beat a team that rarely loses at home.
Not only did the Mater Lakes fail to make shots in the first half, but the Eagles also struggled from the floor, as the halftime score read like most scores at the end of the first quarter – 16-9.
The Bears (21-9) got their deficit within nine to start the fourth quarter but when Perez-Ruiz got fouled and converted a three-point play to open the quarter, making it 30-18, Mater Lakes was never able to cut its deficit to single digits again.
— BILL DALEY
Region 4-6A final — Pembroke Pines A
Charter 64, St. Thomas Aquinas 57: Senior forward Jeremy Elyzee saved his finest performance of his two-year Jaguars career for Friday.
Elyzee scored the first 11 points for
Pines Charter in the fourth quarter to build a 10-point lead en route to a 64-57 victory. Elyzee, who just committed to Southwest Louisiana, finished with a career-high 28 points.
The Jaguars (23-4) are seeking their second boys’ basketball championship since 2021 and will face Ponte Vedra on March 7 at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“It was the desire to win,” said Elyzee about his start of the fourth quarter. “This is my senior year, and I didn’t want to waste it by losing. I thank my team for trusting me with the ball. We came out with the right energy and that’s how we were able to pull through.”
He scored 22 of his team’s 35 points in the second half.
Despite Elyzee’s second-half play, the Raiders (21-7) closed to within two at 59-57 following a 3-pointer by JustusDylan Herbert with just under a minute to play.
But five consecutive free throws by
Pines Charter in the final 41.5 seconds helped seal the victory.
Junior guard Maximo Ortego finished with 12 points and senior forward Josh Harris had 10 points for the Jaguars.
Freshman guard Kellson Sandi had a strong first half with 14 points, 12 of those points coming on four threepointers. However, the Jaguars defense held him scoreless in the second half.
Sophomore guard Drake Sandi did his best to keep Aquinas close with 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. Ayden Ambrose added 10 points for the Raiders.
— DAVE BROUSSEAU Region 4-2A final — Sagemont 68,
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True North 56: “Prepared to defend, ready to repeat.”
In the corner of the Sagemont High School gym, there’s a poster with those six words. Take another look around, and countless fans wear a T-shirt with that same message — in a nutshell, it sums up the Lions season.
Top-seeded Sagemont wants back-toback Class 2A state titles, and it moved one step closer to that goal Friday.
The Lions have now won their region three years in a row. They’ll face Jacksonville Impact Christian Academy in the state semifinals on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
“Always feels good to go to [state],” Sagemont head coach David Roe said.
“With a new group, it feels even better. A lot of their first times, and we’re excited to be back. Try to repeat.”
One of the Lions’ newcomers is star junior Patrick Liburd, a transfer from NSU University in Fort Lauderdale. He scored a game-high 23 points, including seven straight points late in the fourth quarter to effectively ice the game. Guard Kevin Thomas added 15 points.