Riviera Prep boys’ basketball tops COHEA, secures rematch with Westminster Academy
It doesn’t matter if the Riviera Prep boys’ basketball team is ahead big or trailing big.
The Bulldogs’ mentality is simple.
“We’ve been down 25, 18, 23 and 32 in games in the past two years and we’ve come back and won all those games so we know whether we’re up or down to stay the course and make the right plays and hopefully the basketball gods will reward us,” Riviera Prep coach Anthony Shahbaz said.
Riviera Prep used that approach Tuesday night to hold off a tough challenge from upstart City of Hialeah Educational Academy for a 67-53 victory in a Region 4-3A semifinal at its home gym.
Junior guard Dante Allen led Riviera Prep with 22 points and had at least four steals, which led to quick transition baskets as it led for all but 20 seconds against an upstart COHEA squad making its first ever regional semifinal appearance.
Riviera Prep (22-8), the reigning Class 3A state champions, moved a step closer to a potential repeat, but now face a familiar foe as it will travel to Fort Lauderdale to face Westminster Academy for the third consecutive season in the regional finals.
Riviera has won the previous two encounters, beating the Lions at Westminster in 2022 and rallying from an 18-point deficit to win at home last season.
Westminster is ranked No. 4 regardless of classification in the latest FHSAA power rankings. Riviera Prep is right behind the Lions at No. 5.
“I know they’ll be ready and we’ll be ready and we’ll settle this on the court,” Shahbaz said.
The Bulldogs knew, however, they were in for a battle they could not overlook on Tuesday from COHEA (21-8), which trailed by as many as 18 early in the fourth quarter before narrowing the gap to seven.
Chris Levy helped COHEA, whose mascot is also the Bulldogs, stay in it with 20 points including four made three-pointers. Reece Randolph also had 10 points. COHEA withstood a 14-3 Riviera run to open the game before slowing down the pace and pulling within three points late in the first half.
But the defensive effort by Allen and sibling guards Myles and Mason Fuentes kept COHEA from catching up. Myles Fuentes finished with 14 points while Mason Fuentes had 11. The duo fed forward Jeremy Jenkins often inside as he also finished with 11 points.
“We were still getting great looks but just not converting,” Shahbaz said. “We knew they’d give us everything they had and go on runs. As long as our defense held up and we continued to make the right plays, we’d be able to finish the game.”
