Undefeated Mater Academy surges into Junior Orange Bowl tournament final vs South Miami

Playing with heavy hearts and proudly displaying the word “Shakey” on the top left side of their jerseys, the Mater Academy boys basketball team turned in an effort their old coach would have been proud of Tuesday night.

The Lions, who lost long-time legendary head coach Shakey Rodriguez when he passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in early November, used a 20-2 run over the course of the final two minutes of the first half and four minutes of the second half that paved the way for a 70-58 victory over Columbus in a Junior Orange Bowl boys semifinal at Westminster Christian School. Mater Academy remains unbeaten (10-0) and advances to Wednesday night’s championship game. The Lions will take on South Miami at 9:15 p.m. South Miami defeated Chaminade-Madonna in the other semi.

Filling the giant shoes left by Shakey might be tough enough but has been made even tougher because his replacement is his son Eric Rodriguez, who was his long-time assistant coach on the bench.

On top of losing his dad, Rodriguez has also had to deal with the loss of five-star center Malik Reneau (who transferred upstate to Montverde Academy last summer), not having a home gym to use due to renovations and the loss of two more players who transferred following Shakey’s death.

“Losing my dad is something that clearly set me back for a little while,” said Eric Rodriguez. “But like we’ve always done here at Mater, we don’t like making excuses, we find challenges and find new opportunities to grow as a team. Between no gym, the COVID issues and all the other things that have happened, my kids have been through so much and I’m really proud of them for the way they have fought through all of this.”

After taking a 20-14 lead after one quarter, the Lions watched as Columbus, led by Hubertas Pivorius’ hot shooting, surged ahead 34-29. Pivorius finished the night with six three pointers and was Columbus’ leading scorer with 22 points.

But then, led by senior Ryan Sanchez, Mater surged back, tying the game at 36-36 by halftime and scoring the first 13 points of the third quarter to complete their 20-2 run.

“We’re always thinking about Coach Shakey and we’ve just tried to play through it all,” said Sanchez, who finished with 22 points while dishing out seven assists. “We’re always thinking about him but we just try and play as a unit and a team because we always feel like we’re playing for him. Once we got that double-digit lead, we knew we were where we needed to be and would be able to close things out.”

South Miami tops Chaminade

The Cobras used an 11-0 run over the final four minutes of the third quarter and first four minutes of the fourth to turn a 36-35 lead into a 47-35 advantage and coasted from there to defeat the Chaminade-Madonna 57-47 and advance to the championship game.

South Miami (5-4), which finished as a runnerup in this tournament in 2016 and 2017, was led by Christian Pujals and Joshua Middlebrooks who scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, including three three-pointers apiece.

Brandon Gilgeours led the way for Chaminade (1-5) with 14 points followed by Donnavan Gravalese and Jaylon Tolbert who had 12 points each.

Girls semifinals

In a showdown of two of the top public school programs from Miami-Dade and Broward, Blanche Ely came out of the gates firing on all cylinders early Tuesday evening.

The Tigers, the defending Class 6A state champions, blew out to a 21-7 lead after one quarter and never looked back, cruising to a 68-44 victory against previously unbeaten Miami Norland in a semifinal contest of the Junior Orange Bowl Basketball Tournament at Westminster Christian School.

Ely (4-0), ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 6A and No. 5 overall (Max Preps) moves in to Wednesday’s championship game where the Tigers will square off against Miami Christian (which advanced by forfeit) at 7:30 p.m.

“Getting out to a quick start was important for us because we really haven’t had very many reps this season as this was only our fourth game,” said Ely coach Henry McNabb. “The girls are just excited to be able to start playing games again and we’re grateful for the opportunity to simply play during these difficult times of COVID. We don’t take anything for granted.”

The Tigers, who led by as many as 28, were led by Michiyah Simmons (20 points) and University of Miami commit Ja’Leah Williams (19 points). Jenessa Kelley added 16 points. Freshman Shania Swan led all Norland scorers with 16.

▪ Following its win against Central in the quarterfinals, the Miami Christian Lady Victors never had to step on the floor for their semifinal when their opponent, Western, opted not to make the trip down and play because of COVID concerns.

▪ South Broward and Cardinal Gibbons also opted out of their Wednesday morning consolation games.

GIRLS’ CONSOLATION BRACKET

▪ Miami Central 48, South Broward 44: Neither team ever led by more than eight points before the Rockets got some late scoring from Tatiana Jackson and Makayla Brown. They overcame a dominating performance by South Broward’s Jamesha Card, who scored 28 of her team’s 44 points while pulling down 12 rebounds. Jackson led all scorers for Central with 13 points, and Brown had 11 points.

▪ Cardinal Gibbons 62, Somerset Silver Palms 59: Gibbons took a commanding 55-40 lead to the fourth quarter before a furious Silver Palms rally, led by Amari Hunter (30 points) fell just short. It was a two-player show for the Chiefs as Sharale McCormick and Ashleigh Battle combined for 43 points with 23 and 20, respectively.

BOYS’ CONSOLATION RESULTS

▪ Gulliver Prep. 76, North Miami 72 (OT): Amare Sanders drained an NBA-sized 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime to snap a 72-72 tie and provide the Raiders (4-7) with the winning points. Sanders finished with 20 points while Jordan Bankston led the way for Gulliver with 26.

▪ Belen Jesuit 75, Palmetto 48: Belen (11-1) was led by Daniel Del Riesgo with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Girls’ basketball

▪ Krop (4-1) 55, McArthur 47: Krop won the quarterfinal game in the 6th Annual Palm Beach Shoot Out. Lindsey Weingard led the way with 24 points, 4 steals and 3 assists. Emmy Mills 11 pts, 10 reb; Lauryn Hornstein 9 pts, 7 reb; Neyida Michel 5 pts, 14 reb; Mae-Lisa Attis 4 pts; Alionna Chappel 2 pts. McArthur was led by S. Chai with 17 points and Paris Knowles with 13 points.

▪ North Miami 44, Krop 43: North Miami advanced to the title game of the tournament. Krop: Lindsey Weingard 23 points, 3 steals, 3 assists; Emmy Mills 8 points, 14 rebounds; Lauryn Hornstein 6 points. NM: Kouraje Johnson 16 pts; Carla Jean 9 pts; Jenny Hilaire 7 pts.

This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 7:51 PM.