There were a lot of tears flowing after the Class 7A state championship game.
Tears of joy from Oviedo players. Tears of anguish from Bartow players.
Oviedo defeated Bartow 55-52 to claim the boys basketball program’s third-state title and first since 1992.
The game came down to the wire. Bartow had a shot to take the lead with less than a minute to play. Down by one, the Yellow Jackets turned the ball over and that led to a layup by Oviedo’s Matt Milon.
With under 10 seconds to play, Bartow’s Derrick Brooks was fouled before he nailed a three-point shot, which would have tied the game at 54-all. He made his first free throw to pull the Yellow Jackets within two and then purposely missed the second, but Bartow wasn’t able to rebound the ball.
Oviedo gained possession and was able to close out the game.
“It reminded me of a chess game,” Oviedo coach Ed Kershner said. “It was a game of ebb and flow, good and bad.”
The good – Oviedo’s RJ June shooting 7-of-8 for 19 points and Bartow’s Tony Bradley finished with the only double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds).
The bad – Bartow’s 18 turnovers that led to 22 Oviedo points.
“We just didn’t get it done,” Bartow coach Terrence McGriff said. “I think the difference in the game was turnovers.”
And also the start of the game.
Oviedo opened the game with seven-straight points, prompting Bartow to call a timeout. That seemed to calm the Yellow Jackets down as they went on a 4-0 run to cut the Lions early lead to 7-4.
But another big run by Oviedo gave them the largest lead of the first quarter (15-6) before Bartow answered. It helped that Lions leading scorer June, who scored 10 points in the first, picked up his second personal foul with 2:16 to go in the quarter.
Bartow’s Bradley helped close the gap by scoring on the Yellow Jackets final three possessions of the quarter to cut the Lions lead to five.
Brooks cut the lead to two with a three pointer to open the second. And a putback by Bradley would tie it at 17-all. Bradley would tie it up again later in the quarter before back-to-back three’s by Oviedo’s Carlos Maffuz and June gave the Lions a 29-23 lead.
Bradley scored his 14th point of the game just before the end of the first half to cut the Lions lead to four.
Bartow took their first, and only lead of the game when Deyontre Jordan hit a three pointer with 6:46 remaining in the third quarter for a 30-29 lead. It didn’t last long. Oviedo regained the lead, by as much as six, before McKinley Harvin’s second three pointer of the game cut the lead to 42-40 heading into the final quarter.