The Mater Academy high school boys’ basketball team advances to Friday’s regional final
With a packed crowd, the Mater Academy Lions braced themselves for what they anticipated would be a brutally tight physical test when they hosted South Miami in a Region 4-6A semifinal on Tuesday night.
The district rivals and arguably the two best teams in the county were squaring off for a fourth time and just two weeks after Mater had beaten the Cobras by 25 in the district title game.
But the stakes were much higher than ever on this night as the winner was moving on and the loser was cleaning out their lockers.
That honor will go to the Lions as they made just enough big shots down the stretch to hang on and edge South Miami 51-48. Mater (25-4) will now get its shot at redemption as the No. 1 seed Lions, who have never made it to the state final four, will host No. 2 Dillard in a Region 4-6A final Friday at 7 p.m. Dillard defeated Stuart Martin County in its semifinal contest.
It was a year ago that the Lions, hosting Blanche Ely in a regional final, were less than a minute away from advancing to Lakeland when they frittered away a five point lead and lost by three.
The outcome on Tuesday was not decided until the final three seconds when South Miami’s Arturo Dean, who was magnificent all night leading all scorers with 17 points, got a clean look at a three-point attempt from the corner that bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
“What a great game and a tough game,” said Mater coach Shakey Rodriguez, who has been in his fair share of nailbiters over his decorated 38-year career. “What nobody understands is how tough it is to beat a good team like that when you just beat them by 25 two weeks ago and then have to come right back and play them again. We knew we weren’t winning by 25 tonight and were ready for them to come in here ready to go and they were.”
Led by Dean, South Miami, which was looking for its fifth state final four berth in the last seven years, fought back from an opening 9-0 deficit to start the game and led 23-21 at the half. The Cobras (22-6) then stretched the lead to 31-24 midway through the third and appeared to be in control.
But that’s when 6-8 sophomore Malik Reneau, who had been held in check in the first half having been double and triple teamed, started to get loose and do some damage. He and guard Ryan Sanchez led the charge back as the Lions went on a 15-4 run to close out the quarter and take a four point lead into the final frame.
Down 46-39 with four minutes left, South Miami battled back. When Dean was fouled on a 3-point shot with 37 seconds left, he made all three free throws to cut the deficit to 49-48. When Reneau was fouled with nine seconds left, he went to the free throw line and came through making both ends of a one-and-one forcing the Cobras to go for a three pointer at the end.
“We didn’t panic when we were down and things weren’t going well,” said Reneau, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half. “We tonight would be a real battle but we really fed off of our home crowd and are looking forward to having them back in the stands on Friday night.”
▪ Region 4-4A semifinal — Gulliver Prep. 66, Pine Crest 61: Donnell Harris Jr. and Tony Sanders led the way for the host Raiders as they each scored 19 points.
Harris Jr. led all rebounds as he pulled down 13 boards, and Sanders had 7.
Gulliver, which has never made it to a state final four in boys basketball, will get another shot on Friday when the Raiders host defending 5A state champion Stranahan in a Region 4-4A final.