By Dave Brousseau
FORT LAUDERDALE – Early into the third quarter of the Class 6A regional final the defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas boys’ basketball team saw its lead shrink to five points at 39-34 against Miramar.
Consider that a short time threat.
The Raiders changed the narrative, regained momentum as they would go on to punish the Patriots 77-43.
It was the seventh time this season that St. Thomas won games by 30-plus points or more.
St. Thomas (26-4) advances to a state semifinal game against Tampa Sickles at 1p.m. at the University of North Florida on March 12. Two more victories would give the Raiders back-to-back state titles for the first time in school history.
“I think we just settled down little bit,” said Aquinas coach Julius Sandi. “We’ve been hyped about this game all week long. Second half we got into a little foul trouble, switched our defense and we were able to come through.”
Clarence Westbrook Jr., Drake Sandi, Kellson Sandi and Xavier Pink collaborated to help the team create distance themselves and the Patriots.
Westbrook led all scorers with a game-high 22 points, while Drake Sandi added 18 points, Kellson Sandi 17 points and Pink 13 points. In the fourth quarter alone, the Raiders outscored Miramar 28-4 and 40-18 in the second half.
“We talked about staying composed if they made some runs,” said Drake Sandi. “We weren’t worried because we’ve been here before. Once we chipped away and had the ball in our favor so that’s all.”
Pink came off the bench with Nate Accius and Zane Elliott in foul trouble to contribute nine of his 13 points in the second half.
“We were giving up easy baskets that we shouldn’t have,” said the senior forward. “We truly just played the game of basketball. We did nothing crazy and kept it simple.”
In the BCAA Big 8 championship on Jan. 31, St. Thomas edged Miramar 68-60. It was the second time in the past 20 years St. Thomas swept Miramar in the same season.
The Patriots (21-9) were led by Ronald Germielle, a 6-11 junior power-forward with 15 points with eight coming when the Patriots cut into the Raiders lead in third quarter.
The Raiders never trailed only once in the game midway through the first quarter despite Miramar being held to two baskets. The Patriots did make 9 of 12 free throws however.
Dave Brousseau is a veteran journalist who worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a longtime BCAA Correspondent. Need to reach out to him? Contact him at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.