South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Breathing fire
Dragons defense dominates at critical moments to clinch victory
Get ready Lakeland, the Mighty Dragons are coming back!
Led by a balanced attack and strong defensive performance, Stranahan beat Miami Norland 56-43 on Friday, advancing to the state semifinals for the third time in four years.
Houston Culpepper finished with 14 points, Darrin Garrett came off the bench to score 13 and Tamarrien Thorpe chipped in all seven of his points in the fourth quarter.
“This is really emotional,” said Culpepper. “I’m very happy and proud of my teammates. This was my last home game and now we have to go to Lakeland and do the same thing.”
Stranahan (25-3) jumped on Norland early, taking a 17-7 lead in the first quarter by holding the Vikings to just one field goal. The Mighty Dragons defense did it again in the fourth as Norland had just one field goal, which came with two minutes remaining.
Norland’s leading scorer Marcus Allen, who came in averaging 18.5 points per game, was held to just 10 points.
“At the half we told them, ‘Close the door,’ but we have to play team ball, play smart down the stretch, no one-one-one ball,” said Stranahan coach Edward Schuler. “We played help-side defense tonight. We knew everything was going to go through Allen, but we had to limit his touches.”
Stranahan also came up with big shots when it needed them most.
When Norland cut the lead to four late in the second quarter, Garrett drilled a 3-pointer right before halftime. Norland cut the lead 39-34 late in the third, but junior Hykeem Williams hit two key free throws with 14 seconds left to push the lead back to seven.
And when the Vikings (20-10) made one final push midway through the fourth, Stranahan broke the defensive pressure, getting back-to-back layups from Thorpe and Williams.
“This means so much to get back to Lakeland and try to win it and put our school back on the map,” said Schuler. “It’s very special. We’ll celebrate tonight but get back in the lab tomorrow.”
Stranahan, which won state titles in 2019 and 2020, will face St. Petersburg in the final four on Thursday.