Windermere Prep wins boys basketball state semifinal thriller over Providence
LAKELAND — For nearly three and a half quarters Windermere Prep’s standout sophomore, Brandon Bass Jr., was held without a basket in a Class 3A boys basketball state semifinal slugfest Wednesday night.
But Bass scored three huge buckets in the final 4 minutes and 50 seconds — none bigger than his improbable game-winning three-point play with one-tenth of a second on the clock to beat favored Providence School 39-38 at the RP Funding Center.
Bass, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, set himself up for the dramatic ending by stealing the ball in the backcourt with 12 seconds remaining and his team down 38-36. Lakers coach Brian Hoff immediately called time out to draw up a final play intended for Bass, but that plan turned into a frenzied finish when Providence guard Brady Patterson stole Windermere Prep’s inbounds pass.
Patterson was falling backwards toward the sideline with the ball and attempted to keep possession with a pass to a teammate. Lakers freshman Gustavo Roca stole the toss and alertly dished to Bass who drove the baseline, drew a foul, and tied the game by making the basket with contact. With 0.1 on the clock, Bass completed the three-point play with a game-winning free throw that sent his teammates, coaches and Windermere Prep fans into sheer ecstasy.
“We needed every second to win this game,” Hoff said. “We did not play as well as we wanted to. But the heart of this team never dies.”
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Hoff was an assistant for six years under Jim Martin, Providence’s 24th-year head coach. Martin congratulated Hoff after the game but was fuming over the officiating decision to award Bass the basket after the foul.
Controversy or not, the victory sends the Lakers (24-7) to Friday’s 8 p.m. championship game in Lakeland against top-ranked Riviera Prep (24-5) of Miami, which also won a nail-biter, 45-44, against Berkeley Prep (23-6) of Tampa. The Bulldogs trailed much of the way but won on a free throw by senior Dante Allen with 3.2 seconds remaining.
WIndermere Prep lost 51-27 to Riviera Prep in last year’s final but believes it is better equipped this season – despite the fact that its top seven players are underclassmen. One of those seven, junior Jordan Ford, is out due to an injury.
Windermere Prep was down 38-33 with 1:01 to go and Providence spreading the floor to milk the clock, but Shoptaw said afterwards, “There was never a time where I thought we were going to lose this game.”
The Lakers forced a turnover at the 44.7 second mark and Bass cut the deficit to 38-36 with crossover move and off-handed finish with 33.6 to go.
Bass, who came in averaging 21.1 points per game, finished with 9 as did Roca, who was 3-for-5 on threes. Sophomore guard Samuel Shoptaw added 8 points and sophomore 7-footer Sinan Huan made a big difference for the Lakers with 8 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots.
Both teams showed nerves at the start and only 11 points were scored in the first quarter, which ended with Windermere Prep up 7-4. The Lakers missed seven of their first shot attempts and Providence started 0-for-5 with two turnovers.
Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be contacted via email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
