Riviera Prep boys’ basketball’s Cinderella run ends in Class 4A state semifinals
Sometimes the glass slipper doesn’t always fit. That’s what the Riviera Prep boys’ basketball team found out Wednesday afternoon.
The Bulldogs, one year removed from an 11-14 season, put together a great regular season and an even more remarkable Cinderella postseason run — one that saw a program in just its third year of existence reach the state final four, just two wins away from the school’s first state championship in any sport.
But it all came to an end when Riviera dropped a 68-59 decision to Seffner Christian in a Class 4A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center. The loss also ruined a potential Dade-Broward championship game matchup Thursday after Westminster Academy won the other semifinal two hours earlier.
“I thought the difference in the game today was clearly rebounding and second chance points,” second-year coach Anthony Shahbaz said. “I didn’t really think they got anything out of their half court offense but they probably had at least an extra 15 possessions off of offensive rebounds. We haven’t faced a team like that all year that was that relentless on the boards. I don’t know if the coach was giving them extra scooby snacks before the game but they didn’t stop from start to finish.”
Shahbaz was a little surprised when he was handed the stat sheet in the media room and discovered Seffner’s advantage on the boards was only 33-27. But 15 of Seffner’s 33 rebounds were on the offensive end and, according to Shahbaz, “it seemed like they scored on every one of those extra possessions.”
Riviera (20-11), which pulled off a thrilling 78-77 triple overtime nail-biter over favored SLAM Academy in the regional final and with a team whose top two scorers are eighth and ninth graders, predictably came out early on with a case of “state final nerves.”
Seffner Christian (25-6) dominated the early going, putting Riviera Prep in a 27-13 hole two minutes into the second quarter.
But it was then that the Bulldogs, led by Esteban Lluberes and Osmar Garcia Araujo — the ninth and eighth graders, respectively — who combined for 43 points (25 from Lluberes, 18 from Garcia Araujo), settled in and began to dominate the game themselves.
Riviera went on a 14-4 run to close out the first half, cutting its deficit to four and carried that over into the third quarter, outscoring Seffner 15-4 to complete a 29-8 run and led 42-35 with 3:38 left in the third.
It was there that everything went awry for the Bulldogs as they went ice cold offensively while Seffner Christian took control of the boards like Shahbaz said. Riviera spent the next 9:41 of the game with just one field goal as the Crusaders tore off on a 23-5 run to open up a 58-47 lead.
“In the beginning, there were some butterflies which coach said is normal but eventually we settled down and started playing much better,” said Araujo, who also had five rebounds. “We just could not keep it up and let them come back on us.”
Arthur Hoynack’s three pointer ended the Bulldog drought with 1:57 left but by then they were forced to start fouling and Seffner drained nearly every free throw.
But on a team that has just one senior (Cheikh Ndour) and whose two best players have a lot of high school basketball left, the Bulldogs expect to be back in Lakeland for more opportunities.
“The future is bright,” Shahbaz said. “We set out on a mission a year ago and I told the kids if they buy in to what we’re selling, we’ll make it to this point. Did we expect it to go this way today? No, but this is part of the learning process. When you’re two leaders on the team are the youngest guys on the team there’s going to be a learning curve. I thought we had to exert too much nervous energy at the start of the game today which may have cost us down the stretch. That’s part of the learning process.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2019 at 3:27 PM.
