Grandview Prep upends OCP
Warriors aim for comeback but fall short
LAKELAND – Orlando Christian Prep used pressure defense to chase, scramble and scrap its way i nto position to win Wednesday night’s Class 2A boys basketball final.
But the Warriors (22-8) failed to produce enough points down the stretch to add their state championship collection.
OCP lost 51-40 to Boca Raton Grandview Prep (30-2), which celebrated its first title after six consecutive final four appearances had ended in defeat since 2007.
OCP coach Reggie Kohn said he felt the pendulum swing after the Warriors missed a short shot and had a follow attempt blocked that could have made it a two-point game early in the fourth quarter. Grandview broke the other way and Sean Walsh made a 3-point shot to open the spread to 36-29.
It was 38- 32 when Grandview’s 6-foot-4 scoring star, Ivan Canete, fouled out with four minutes and 10 seconds remaining after he and OCP guard Justice Montgomery hit the floor for a loose ball and got tangled up.
Montgomery was awarded two free throws and made both. Adonys Henriquez added another to trim the deficit to 38-35. But OCP’s chances to surge ahead slipped away again when missed jump shots on its next two trips downcourt turned into fastbreak layups for Grandview, expanding the lead to an insurmountable 44-37.
“The momentum went so fast,” Kohn said. “We had it and then it was gone.”
The loss denied OCP’s bid to become the state’s fifth program to win five championships in six seasons. The Warriors won three straight from 2008-10, slipped in a semifinal in 2011 and bounced back to win2A last season.
Henriquez, a 6-foot-5 junior guard who has committed to Miami, scored 17 points for OCP, but his team was stifled most of the night by Grandview’s sticky zone defenses.
The Warriors hit only 29 percent of their field-goal attempts (11-of-38), 5-of-18 from 3-point range.
“Our defense was good,” Kohn said. “We just didn’t have enough guys step up to score. You’ve got to put the ball in the basket.”
Henriquez made his third and final 3-pointer off a takeaway to push OCP into the lead in the first minute of the second half. and junior center Brandon Miller added two free throws for a 27-23 Warriors advantage. But things went badly from there, as Grandview answered with a crucial 10-0 run.
“It’s painful,” said another OCP j unior, Dmitri Thompson. “I don’t want it to happen again.”
Added Henriquez: “We’ve got to work in the offseason and come back and win it.”
Michael Walmer, who played with a broken nose and black right eye courtesy of a blowto the face in Tuesday’s semifinal win, started and played tenaciously for OCP until fouling out in the final minute. He defending Canete much of the night despite giving away five inches.
Grandview was 0-3 in championship games and 0-3 in state tourney matchups vs. OCPbeforeWednesday.
Counting his days as a Lake Howell assistant and head coach, Kohn has coached in the state tournament 10 consecutive seasons, with six state championships. Hewas an assistant to his father, Steve, when Lake Howell won i ts 2007-08 crown