Mater’s historic boys’ basketball season ends with lopsided loss in 1st state title game
Eric Rodriguez thought about his father as he tried to get Mater Academy Charter ready for the Class 6A championship against Bartow. He thinks about him anytime he takes the court and for a while it used to make him cry every time he walked into a gymnasium after Shakey Rodriguez’s death in the preseason. He knew how his would approach a game against the No. 24 team in the nation, according to MaxPreps, and it made the end result Saturday even tougher.
The Yellow Jackets overwhelmed Mater Academy in Mater’s first ever trip to the boys’ basketball state title game. The Lions hung around for the first half, but Bartow’s depth, size and athleticism was eventually too much for Mater to overcome in a 72-45 loss.
“We approach every game the same and we approach every game like we’re the team that’s supposed to win,” Rodriguez said. “In a lot of ways, they wanted it a little bit more than we did today.”
The Yellow Jackets outbrebounded the Lions, 46-29, and finished with five players scoring in double figures. Mater (21-3) shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 15.4 percent from three-point range, and the best season in program history ended with the Lions’ first silver medal.
It came at the end of the most trying year any of them had ever been through. The COVID-19 pandemic shook up their offseason, just like it did everyone else’s, and then star power forward Malik Reneau transferred to Montverde Academy after helping lead Mater to the Region 4-6A championship last year.
All the while, the school was renovating the Lions’ Hialeah Gardens gym, leaving them without anywhere regular to practice, play or work out. In the summer, Mater would trek up to Deerfield Beach, where Shakey Rodriguez paid out of his own pocket to rent court time at a recreation center. In the preseason, the Lions mostly practiced at either iMater or Westminster Christian. They didn’t play a home game all year.
They had already started preseason practices when Rodriguez, 67, died from brain aneurysm. It was a total shock to his son, who came home and found him on the floor. After years as his father’s top assistant, Rodriguez took the helm for Mater, didn’t miss a single game and led the Lions to the final four for the first time.
He admitted it probably wasn’t healthy how quickly he rushed back to coaching, but his players lifted him up. They all showed up to his father’s funeral, and made shooting shirts with Shakey Rodriguez’s visage across the front and some of the five-time state champion’s quotes on the back.
“They got me back,” Rodriguez said Friday. “I don’t know how long it would’ve been.”
The Lions’ historic season culminated with their first trip to Lakeland and they held off Punta Gorda Charlotte on Thursday at the RP Funding Center to reach the title game for the first time. Bartow (22-4) finally ended their improbable run.
“We didn’t come in with the same mental toughness that we had last game,” senior guard Ryan Sanchez said. “Being the leader of the team, that was my fault.”
He and swingman Jimel Lane both scored 13 points with six rebounds. No one else scored more than six and Mater had just four assists. The Lions still hung around for a half, trailing 36-26 at halftime, before the Yellow Jackets blew them away in the final 16 minutes.
Bartow point guard Walter Clayton Jr., who signed a national letter of intent with the Iona Gaels last year, finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Yellow Jackets power forward Daithan Davis also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Bartow point guard Malcolm Dewberry, who finished with 14 points and five assists, had more assists than the entire Mater team.
“It was pretty tough,” Lane said. “From a physical standpoint and rebounding, we clearly lost that battle, which made us lose the game.”
Said Rodriguez: “It would’ve been nice to complete the season that we had the right way. I’m sure a couple weeks from now, I’ll look back onto our season, I’ll be impressed with the type of the kids that we have. I can’t express how proud I am and I hope that my dad would be, too.”
