We traveled down an EXTREMELY CONGESTED I-4 to Lakeland to take in the Class 2A, Region 2 Final between #2 seed Orlando Christian Prep and top-seeded Lakeland Victory Christian. The home team came in as the top-ranked team in 2A while the Warriors of OCP were ranked #3. At the end of the contest, a very good team was going to be denied a spot in the Final Four. The gym was filled to SRO capacity and a rowdy Victory Christian student section was in high gear.
OCP drew first blood with a drive and score at the rim by 6’4 junior Darius Washington III. Victory responded with a three from 6’4 senior Jordan Lanier. OCP came right back with a three of its own from 6’1 sophomore Josh Theus. Victory grabbed the lead back at 6-5 after a three-pointer from Quinton Wilson, a 6’3 eighth grader. OCP then reeled off seven unanswered points as 6’4 senior Jemah Jones scored inside, 6’0 senior Ameer Ramadan stroked a three and 6’5 senior and UF signee Isaiah Brown scored in transition. Midway thru the first quarter, OCP led 12-6. Thok Gol, a 6’8 sophomore, got Victory back on the board with a stickback. After four quick points from OCP, Lorenzo Cason, a 6’3 senior, FAU recruit, and Victory’s top player, got his first points of the night on a trio of free throws after drawing a defender into air. Each team scored four points the rest of the period which found OCP up 20-13.
Mark Ekiri, a 6’6 OCP senior, got the first points of the second quarter on a putback. Victory hit a three in response, then got a steal and score to get to within four at 22-18. Jones hit a mid-range jumper for OCP, but Cason got Victory to within three after once again hitting three free throws after drawing contact behind the arc. With four minutes gone by and four minutes to play in the second period, OCP was up by just three, 24-21. At that point OCP ripped off eight straight points, forcing a Victory timeout with 2:24 left in the period. That run extended to 10-0 after a pair of OCP free throws by Brown. Victory would collect itself, outscoring OCP 8-2 the rest of the period, the last three points coming on a deep three by Lanier to beat the buzzer. At the half, OCP was up seven, 36-29.
An 8-2 run by OCP over the first three minutes of the third quarter put the margin at double-digits, 44-31, forcing another Victory timeout. To Victory’s credit, they didn’t let OCP get much further ahead the rest of the third quarter but the damage had been done. With one period left to play, OCP was up big, 55-39.
Victory made enough of a run in the first three minutes of the final period to force an COP timeout up 59-46. Magic words must have been spoken as OCP went on an 8-2 run, making the score 67-48 with just 1:35 left to play. Both teams put their respective bench players in to finish out the game. OCP ultimately gets the win, 69-52. They will play Tampa SLAM in the Class 2A state semi-finals.
Five players scored double figures for OCP. Both Washington and Jones contributed 14 points, Ramadan had 11 points and Brown and Theus each added 10 points.
Cason led Victory with a hard-earned 21 points while Lanier finished with 19 points.