It took 29 years for Jesuit’s basketball program to hoist a championship trophy.

And it took a special group of players to pull off the feat.

A year after they were running clocked in the regional finals by Lake Wales, Jesuit stood atop Florida’s Class 5A with a 79-58 victory over American Heritage Saturday morning at The Lakeland Center.

It’s Jesuit’s first state championship in any sport since the cross country team won in 2006, and the third overall basketball title. The Tigers also won in 1950 and ’84.

All five starting seniors remembered being embarrassed by Lake Wales and used it as fuel to motivate them this season.

“These talented guys made a commitment to play together and do things the right way and play in a certain way that, we like to consider is the Jesuit way,” Tigers coach Neal Goldman said. “Just the way that they committed to unselfishness and being there for each other, makes winning even more special.”

Senior Jack Fleming followed up a 2-for-12 shooting semifinal performance with one of the best games of his high school career. He opened the game with three-straight three pointers and had five of his six three pointers in the first half. He finished with a game-high 20 points.

“Fleming’s start to the game really set the tone,” Goldman said. “He put on a clinic in the first half.”

Joey Galvis put on a clinic the entire tournament. Galvis led the team with 16 points in the semifinal victory over Bishop Kenny. He added 16 against American Heritage and came up with the play of the game.

After Jesuit dominated for most of the game, American Heritage took a one-point lead midway through the third quarter, thanks in part to their impressive free throw shooting (25-of-31). Galvis hit a three and then followed it up with a steal and dish to Travis Johnson, who converted a three-point play on a bucket and free throw.

Jesuit pulled away after that and American Heritage never threatened again.

“We just knew we have to make a run,” said Galvis, who was named the tournament’s MVP. “I was just able to make the big play.”

All four of Jesuit’s players who normally average double figures, finished with double digits. Johnson contributed 14 and Devin Harris had 13. Coming off the bench, junior center Isaiah Omoregie poured in 12 points.

Almost as impressive as Jesuit’s dominating performance was the enthusiasm of its fan section – the Blue Tide.

“If you go to anyone of our home games or away games, you’ll see that out there in the stands, going crazy,” Johnson said. “We just feed off their energy.”