- April 18, 2024
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LAKELAND — Entering a state semifinal against a Miami Christian program that has won two of the past three state championships in Class 2A, the CFCA Eagles knew the margin for error against the Victors would be thin.
Unfortunately, struggles on both ends of the floor doomed the Eagles to trail from start to finish, as their historic season came to an end Monday afternoon with a 68-53 loss in the FHSAA Class 2A State Semifinals at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“I think some of our guys played a little tight early on and didn’t make some fundamental plays that usually they do make,” CFCA head coach Jonathan McClintock said. “I think (Miami Christian) out-competed us for the ball — when the ball was loose and didn’t belong to anybody, Miami Christian won the ball the majority of the time.”
The tight play McClintock described from his team was evident early on, as CFCA fell behind 25-12 through one quarter and looked very much like a team that had not been on this stage before.
The Eagles battled back, though, outscoring Miami Christian 17-10 in the second quarter and starting strong in the third quarter — CFCA cut the lead to four points midway through the third quarter and seemed to be rolling.
That's when foul trouble began to haunt the Eagles, though.
Several CFCA players racked up fouls in the first half, and early in the third quarter Eagles senior standout Dante Treacy was saddled with his fourth foul just as Miami Christian (24-8) began to pull away again.
Treacy would be one of three Eagles who would foul out, joined by Bryce Street and Visual Russell, compounding other problems CFCA was facing as it tried to sustain its comeback effort. CFCA finished the game with 26 personal fouls to Miami Christian's 18.
“When you get into foul trouble, and when you have a rotation that goes a certain way most of the year, you get guy certain guys playing out of position and it does hurt the cohesiveness of what you want to do,” McClintock said.
CFCA (27-4) never recovered and a 10-2 run by the Victors late in the third quarter created all the distance they would need. The Eagles, who had held a slim rebounding advantage at halftime, were also outdone on the boards by 10 in the second half.
Referring to the tin margin of error he and his staff knew his team had, McClintock acknowledged afterward that the Eagles had not made enough winning plays to beat the elite opponent it faced.
“I hope it’s a learning moment for them that makes them hungry and makes them want that moment again so they can redeem themselves,” McClintock said.
CFCA was led by 13 points from Ant Washington. Treacy scored nine points to pair with two assists and junior Jordan Preaster had nine rebounds to go along with eight points.
Miami Christian was led by 17 points from Jeffrey Hernandez and 16 points from Jadrian Florian.
While the Eagles' roster is junior-heavy, it would be the final game for Treacy, an Army signee. Afterward in the postgame press conference, McClintock made a point of recalling that in the five seasons before Treacy arrived on campus, the Eagles had won just five games.
During his career at CFCA, the program won 87 games.
“This young man has written a story that’s very rare these days — he built something from scratch,” McClintock said, gesturing to Treacy, who was sitting to his right.. “He wasn’t the only builder, but he was the master carpenter.”
Then, looking over to his left where Preaster was at the postgame podium, McClintock added a hopeful note.
"What you’ve got here," McClintock said, gesturing to Preaster, "is a guy who gets to continue that process.”
