Orlando Christian Prep’s bid for a four-peat came up a bucket short.
Orlando Christian rallied from an 18-point deficit in the fourth quarter but fell to Weston Sagemont 67-66 in the FHSAA Class 2A state-championship game on Friday at the RP Funding Center.
“We needed one more second on the clock,” Orlando Christian coach Treig Burke said. “It was a good comeback, and it’s hard to come back on good teams. So hats off to them for putting us in that situation.”
OCP beat Sagemont last year in the 2A title game, 66-49, for its 10th state championship, placing OCP third on the state’s all-time championships list.
“I really appreciate my guys coming back and competing and fighting in the second half to make it a one-possession game,” Burke said.
The final 33 seconds were epic. With Sagemont up 66-61, OCP guard Ameer Ramadan was fouled by Depotae Jean, his fifth. But before Ramadan could get to the foul line, a technical foul was called on Sagemont coach David Roe for taking more than 15 seconds to make a substitution, thus sending OCP’s Ka’leel Stillman to the line.
“I didn’t know that rule. I learned it today in the state championship game,” Roe said.
Stillman connected on one of the two technical free throws and Ramadan followed by canning both of his free-throw shots to narrow the Sagemont lead to 66-64.
Isaiah Brown dramatically tied the game 66-66 when he put back an offensive rebound with just 13 seconds remaining.
OCP (25-4) fouled Sagemont guard Ashton Smith with one second left. He hit 1-of-2 free throws to give Sagemont the 67-66 lead, leaving .05 on the clock.
Ramadan attempted a desperation full-court shot at the buzzer, but it fell way short.
“Five-tenths of a second wasn’t enough. We needed 1.5 seconds left. So we ran out of time,” Burke said. “Sagemont made the plays at the end they needed to make.”
Sagemont (29-4) hit the halftime locker room holding a 33-18 lead after OCP missed all six of its 3-point shots. OCP shot just 26 percent from the field, hitting on 6-of-23 attempts in the half.
“Basketball is an imperfect game, and that is probably one of things we didn’t have when we needed it, which was some shooting,” Burke said. “I think we needed to make six 3’s in this game and we only made five. The ball just didn’t go in the basket when we needed it to.”
OCP got its long-distance game on track in the third quarter by hitting four 3-point shots, including two by Isaiah Sutherland. However, Sagemont connected on six 3-pointers and outscored OCP 20-18 in the period to push its lead to 53-36.
Brown led all scorers with 28 points and nine rebounds. Ramadan finished with 16 points while Isaiah Sutherland and Marc Angueki each scored 8.
“It was a lot of points, 28, but it wasn’t enough,” Brown said. “As a team, collectively, we could have worked a little bit better together, hit a couple more shots and we could have brought this home.”
Sagemont was led by Tynan Becker with 25 points while Smith scored 15 and Jean had 12.
“Sagemont is a good-passing team and they made shots,” Burke said. “We just had to change up our defense and pick up the tempo a little bit just to get them off their rhythm.”
A win would have catapulted OCP into an elite group of seven four-peat state champions, which includes Jacksonville Country Day (5), Malone (5), Fort Lauderdale Dillard (5), Miami Norland (4), Port St. Joe (4) and Daytona Beach Seabreeze (4).
OCP had won 27 consecutive playoff games since dropping the state final to Pope John Paul II of Tallahassee in 2019.
This report was first published at Orlandosentinel.com. Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
