Back to back: Stranahan boys’ basketball rallies to win emotional second state title
The celebration was on once again for Stranahan boys’ basketball at the RP Funding Center.
The Dragons, who had never even been to a state championship before last year, streamed on to the court to celebrate their second title in a row when the clock hit zeroes inside George Jenkins Arena. They mobbed Thaddeus Squire after he dribbled out the last seconds of the 71-64 win against Tampa Catholic, then lined up to get their championship medals once again.
Terrence Williams stayed seated on the bench the whole time with his face in his hands and tears flowing down his face. Less than year ago, the coach was with his whole team after an offseason tournament when he found out his mother, Eula Williams, died. They all took turns embracing him. He tried to remain as stoic as he could.
“They kept my spirits lifted,” Williams said. “It was time to let it all out.”
After a few moments, he finally lifted himself from the bench, balled his right hand into a fist and lifted it toward the supporters who had traveled all the way from Fort Lauderdale to Lakeland to watch Stranahan (24-9) win its second state title. At the top of his fist was a gaudy hunk of silver and diamonds — the state championship ring from a year earlier, when the Dragons became one of Florida’s most unlikely champions. Now they’re unlikely back-to-back champions.
Late in the third quarter, Stranahan trailed the Crusaders by 11 points and then it shut down Tampa Catholic (26-6) in the second half. The Crusaders went just 6 of 25 and from the field and 1 of 13 from three-point range in the final 16 minutes. They turned the ball over 21 times. The Dragons sprung another upset in the Class 4A championship the same way they have all throughout the past two seasons.
Stranahan couldn’t match the size or sheer top-end talent Tampa Catholic brought to the 4A final. Guard Kobe Knox and 6-8 post player Johni Broome are both three-star prospects in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2020, with multiple scholarship offers. The Dragons don’t have a single player with significant Division I interest and they only used one player taller than 6-3, but they do have depth, stamina and a high-pressure style to take advantage.
“We’ve never had so much problem even getting the ball inbounds to our point guard,” Crusaders coach Don Dziagwa said.
Guard Chayse Culpepper led Stranahan at the point, scoring 19 points and grabbing four steals. Squire added another 15 points and two steals, and forward Houston Culpepper scored 13. Post player Inady Legiste, the only Dragon averaging double-digit points per game, finished with 16 after he went just 2 of 7 with three turnovers battling Broome inside in the first half.
The Dragons went into halftime down 38-29 and still trailed 47-40 with 2:46 left in the third quarter. In all of 54 seconds, Tampa Catholic’s lead vanished.
Chayse Culpepper and Legiste each scored inside, then wing Daquion Vickers stole and inbound pass and finished an and-one to tie the score 47-47. Legiste made two free throws on Stranahan’s next possession and the Dragons never trailed again.
“They’ve been doubting us all season, but we stayed positive throughout the ups and downs,” Chayse Culpepper said. “It hasn’t always been peachy this whole year and we weren’t projected to win this, but we worked hard.”
Stranahan spent the entire postseason playing on the road after losing the District 14-4A championship to University and the Dragons wore their road jerseys for both games at the final four as the lower seed. In the Region 4-4A championship, shooting guard Dave Herard, who has signed a national letter of intent to play football for the Virginia Cavaliers, tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Stranahan was down another starter for its trip to the final four.
As the fourth quarter dragged on, the Dragons still wore out the Crusaders and stretched the lead all the way out to 66-55 with 1:25 to play. Another celebration was ready to begin.
“I said, ‘Hey, if I’ve got to give you an IV after the game, you get an IV,’ ” Williams said. “I didn’t feel like when they got played they got hit enough. And I just knew if we just kept hitting, and hitting and hitting it would be to our advantage.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 3:40 PM.
