Lakewood will have to wait to put a new state championship team photo on the school’s gymnasium wall.
The Spartans ran into a buzz saw in American Heritage, who shot lights out to win the Class 5A title with a 98-70 victory. Enroute to the title, American Heritage set a new championship game record with its 98 points. Florida Air (1998) and Pensacola Catholic (1971) held the previous record of 94 points.
“American Heritage is tough,” Lakewood coach Anthony Lawrence said. “They did everything we knew they were going to do. They’ve got a lot of weapons over there.”
The Patriots made it look easy, scoring at will at times. Junior guard Keyshawn Evans put on a clinic in scoring, leading his team with 25 points. American Heritage had four other player score in double figures.
“Keyshawn really put them over the edge,” Lawrence said. “We didn’t have an answer for him.”
Lakewood had three players in double digits– Jacobi Boykins, who led the Spartans with a game-high 28 points, Anthony Lawrence, Jr. (18) and Joqui Ellison (12).
Overall, American Heritage shot 65 percent, including 56 points in the paint. They set the tone in the first quarter with a stellar 76 percent from the field. Evans, who scored 11 of his points, including five three pointers, in the first as the Patriots jumped out to a big lead.
Lakewood’s Boykins matched Evans’ 11-point first-quarter performance. But the Patriots scored too easily in transition to build an insurmountable lead.
In the third, American Heritage scored six-straight points in 50 seconds for a 62-33 lead and prompted Lakewood to call a timeout. In the fourth, Boykins scored six points in the first two minutes, but each time the Spartans attempted to chip away at the Patriots lead, American Heritage always had an answer.
Lawrence was proud that his team didn’t quit.
“I’ve got some very high character guys on the team,” Lawrence said. “And I’ve got some guys that don’t have any quit in them.”