Riviera Prep wins another thriller at state to earn chance to defend championship
Riviera Prep boys basketball team seems to have a flair for the dramatic at the state final four.
But not by choice.
The Bulldogs are making their third consecutive trip to Lakeland, and for the third consecutive time found themselves in a struggle down to the wire with their opponent.
Luckily, for Riviera Prep, it has learned how to win those one-point thrillers.
Dante Allen’s go-ahead free throw with 3.2 seconds remaining lifted the Bulldogs to a 45-44 victory over Tampa Berkeley Prep on Wednesday at the RP Funding Center in a Class 3A semifinal.
In 2022, Riviera Prep lost a one point heartbreaker to Tallahassee Florida High in the state championship game. The Bulldogs ended up on the winning side of a one-point win against Tampa Catholic in last year’s state semifinals, which led to them winning the school’s first state championship.
On Wednesday, another clutch one-point win propelled Riviera Prep into the Class 3A state final where it will play Windermere Prep on Friday night at 8 p.m.
“We don’t want to make a habit of it, but as long as we’re on the winning side of it, we’ll take it,” Riviera Prep coach Tony Shahbaz said. “We’ve been in those situations so many times and we’ve been put in a lot of bad spots over the years. We’ve been there before and we’ve accomplished it and we know we can do it.”
The Bulldogs (24-8) found themselves in another tough spot even before they stepped on the court on Friday.
Riviera Prep knew it had to suit up without freshman guard Myles Fuentes, nursing an ankle injury suffered during last week’s regional final win over Westminster Academy.
Things got worse less than three minutes into the game when star junior guard Dante Allen collapsed on the court with an ankle injury and was forced to leave the game.
Berkeley Prep (23-7) took advantage and scored 13 consecutive points after Riviera had taken an early 4-0 lead.
But after getting some treatment on his ankle from the team trainer, Allen returned to the game and helped the Bulldogs claw their way back into the contest. Allen played the rest of the game and finished with 14 points and three steals. His go-ahead three with 1:43 remaining in the fourth put the Bulldogs ahead 44-42.
After Berkeley Prep tied the game with 1:04 to go on a jumper by Matt Able IV, Riviera slowed things down in order to take the final shot. Allen drove and was fouled, earning the chance to take the lead.
With the Bulldogs having a couple of fouls to give, they quickly filed Berkeley Prep’s guards off the inbound to take the clock down to 1.5 seconds. This left the Buccaneers with only one desperation shot as time expired and Able IV’s attempt hit the side of the rim.
Allen said the injury stemmed from him twisting when he accidentally stepped on a teammate’s foot in practice recently.
“Unfortunately, I came down on the same ankle (in the first quarter), but we have the best trainer in the world,” Allen said. “At this point, it’s do or die and I needed to be there for my team and I was gonna lay it all out on the line for them.”
Allen was hardly the only one responsible for Riviera comeback however.
Reserve guard Matthew Casey hit three clutch three-pointers that kept the bulldogs in it early while Jeremy Jenkins had nine points and five rebounds.
Mason Fuentes had seven assists and Gustavo Guimaraes Alves totaled six points and 10 rebounds.
“I always try to stay ready and work on my three-point shooting my whole life,” Casey said. “Ever since last year, I’ve always wanted to play in a big game like this and I’m just thankful I was able to hit those shots.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 11:11 PM.
