'We ain't going anywhere': Mainland looks to future after falling to Belen Jesuit in 5A title game
LAKELAND — It was the turnovers.
A total of 23 blunders, to be exact, cost Mainland a fifth boys basketball state championship.
The Buccaneers (25-6) fell to Belen Jesuit (28-4), 70-58, in the 5A state championship on Saturday in Lakeland.
Mainland’s worst demon reared its ugly head at the wrong time. And nothing — not even top-notch defense — could help it overcome its mistakes. The Buccaneers committed 10 more turnovers than it averaged for the season.
The Buccaneers also struggled offensively, shooting 9 for 44 from the field. The lack of offense, coach Joe Giddens said, was Mainland's biggest problem. It committed turnovers in past games but was able to win. The Bucs just couldn’t get going offensively, he said.
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“Moving forward, we’re going to get in the gym and become a better shooting team,” Giddens said. “Everybody.”
Giddens added that although Mainland’s defense helped it reached the state championship game, it hadn’t played well offensively during its playoff run. The Buccaneers, who averaged 56.6 points per game this year, only mustered 38.5 points per game in the postseason.
They looked nothing like the dominant team that had won 13 in a row entering the championship game.
Mainland didn’t have an answer for Belen Jesuit star Javier Rosell, who scored 22 points for the Wolverines. Bryce Fitzgerald added 13. The Wolverines led by as many as 19 points.
Rosell’s outburst and Belen Jesuit’s ball protection — it had only 11 turnovers — earned the Miami school its first boys state championship. On the other side of the ball, Belen Jesuit racked up 13 steals.
The bright side of the loss for the Buccaneers, Narayan Thomas and DeAndre Newland are juniors, and guard Nathan Kirk is a freshman. Giddens will have nine returners, including four starters.
Giddens wanted his guys to stay on the court and see it all, he said. He wanted them to feel what he felt in 1994 when he was a Mainland player in a loss to Boyd Anderson in the state semifinals. The Bucs would go on to win back-to-back state titles the next two years.
“We’re all just thinking about getting back to work,” freshman Nathan Kirk said. “We don’t want to feel the same way next season.”
Rising senior Thomas said they don’t plan to dwell on the loss. He looks forward to turning Mainland’s weaknesses into its strengths.
Giddens smiled when reminded of his team's potential. It was the same smile he had after Mainland lost to Godby in the regional semifinals last year. Then, a year later, the Buccaneers went on to compete for a state championship.
“We’ll be back,” Giddens said. “We ain’t going anywhere.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: FHSAA boys basketball: Belen Jesuit defeats Mainland in 5A title game
