Coral Springs beats Sarasota Riverview to win first boys’ basketball state championship

Myron Dewar says shooting free throws is the most boring part of practice.

On Saturday night, it proved to be the most important task for Dewar to deliver Coral Springs its first state boys’ basketball championship.

Dewar went to the foul line three times in the final 42 seconds of the Class 8A state championship facing a 1-and-1 shooting situation.

He made all six shots.

Moments later, he and his Coral Springs teammates were celebrating all over the court at The Lakeland Center following a 61-57 victory over Sarasota Riverview.

“We had a shoot around earlier [Saturday] and everyone always thinks shooting free throws is the boring part,” Dewar said. “Coach [Devin] Barta said take it seriously because you never know. And look, it was huge.”

For the Colts (22-7), it wasn’t just big, it was historic.

Coral Springs won its first state championship in basketball since its girls’ team won in 1979.

Barta, a Coral Springs alumnus, said the championship was a dream come true.

“It’s the most incredible feeling in the world,” Barta said. “My alma mater didn’t have much of a basketball history and to take a program that had struggled in the past with no district championships to be here three years later with a state championship proves hard work can pay off.”

Coral Springs, which made only its third regional playoff appearance all-time this season (all since 2010) joined Dillard and Blanche Ely to complete a Broward County championship sweep Saturday.

It marked the first time the county had three state boys’ basketball champions in the same season.

After the game, players huddled and chanted “Broward, Broward, Broward.”

This came after the dog pile at center court following the final buzzer. Later, players took pictures with their families and ran “victory laps,” high-fiving their fans in the stands who remained after the awards ceremony.

“We’ve been working all the time for four years, us 10 seniors, grinding to get this,” Dewar said.

Dewar, who averaged a Broward-best 29.2 points per game this season, finished with a game-high 21 points and totaled five rebounds and six assists.

But like the Colts, he started slow, not scoring in the first quarter as his team fell behind by as many as 10 points.

“It’s not about calling timeout and yelling at them in one huddle, it’s about three years of pounding into them and telling them to never quit and stay under control,” Barta said. “Keep poise and keep grinding and if we do those things, we always tell them the scoreboard will take care of itself.”

And on Saturday it did.

Coral Springs chipped away and took the lead before halftime, shooting 9 of 10 from the field in the second quarter after going only 4 of 15 in the first.

Senior forward Trevon White, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, gave the Colts the lead for good with 5:49 left in the third quarter. Senior Michael Carey hit a couple of big three-pointers and finished with 10 points.

And when Riverview (29-3) cut Coral Springs’ lead from 10 with 1:37 to play to three with 48 seconds left, in stepped Dewar, as he had so many times the past three seasons.

“Myron is the best basketball player to ever walk the halls at that school,” Barta said. “I don’t even think this final four was his best performance. But when we needed those free throws, I didn’t want anyone else shooting that ball.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Coral Springs beats Sarasota Riverview to win first boys’ basketball state championship."