Mater Academy Charter stuns Martin County to advance to 6A Final Four

STUART — Martin County's boys basketball team had its sights set on an undefeated season and a state championship heading into Friday night's 4-6A championship game against Mater Academy Charter.

It just wasn't mean to be.

Mater Academy Charter senior point guard Ryan Sanchez scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lions to an upset of Martin County 62-60 in the 4-6A championship game at Don Wallen Arena.

“Hats off to Mater Academy,” Tiger head coach John Leon said. “No excuses here, we didn’t make all the necessary plays to win. I could play four or five plays back in my head I wish we could have back but when we play someone like that. We have to make every possession count, every rebound. We missed some timely buckets, but I’m proud of my guys. Not too many teams were still playing tonight.”

A fourth quarter that began with the two teams tied at 41-41 saw several swings in momentum and multiple lead changes.

Mater Academy took a brief four-point lead early in the fourth but the Tigers (21-1) went on a 10-2 run capped by a putback from junior Braydin Samuels that gave Martin County a 51-47 lead with 4:40 remaining.

Sanchez then went to work as his speed and finishing ability that gave Martin County problems all night allowed him to convert at the rim on back-to-back possessions that put the Lions up 53-51 with 2:50 to go.

Mater Charter relinquished its lead as Sanchez reached in to steal the ball off his own missed rebound by Ryan Davis and the loose ball was gathered in by the Lions’ Jerick Meija, who scored a layup to give his team a 55-51 advantage.

A pair of free throws from Tigers senior Nathan Mikkelson drew Martin County to within 57-55 and the Tigers appeared to earn a jump ball with 34 seconds left that would have given them possession, but the officials ruled Mater Academy’s bench called a timeout to allow the Lions to keep possession.

After Sanchez was fouled, he missed both free throws but the Tigers couldn’t pull in the rebound and Mater Academy’s Torrence Shelman came away with the ball and would hit both free throws after being fouled with 28 seconds remaining to put his team up 59-55.

Martin County had another opportunity to potentially tie the game as they trailed 60-57 with Sanchez missing the second of two free throws, but the Tigers deflected the ball out of bounds and Sanchez hit two more free throws to virtually ice the game with 15 seconds remaining.

Early on, Mikkelson got his team off to a strong start scoring seven points to help Martin County lead 18-15 in a frantic-paced first quarter.

Despite being saddled with two fouls at the end of the first quarter, Sanchez played through foul trouble to score six second quarter points as the two teams were deadlocked at 26 going to halftime.

Offensive rebounding and winning scrambles for the ball keyed Martin County throughout the night. But in the fourth quarter the Lions came up with the key plays to nullify any momentum and keep at bay an enthusiastic Tigers home crowd hoping to see their team reach their first Final Four since 2013.

Ultimately, despite four Tigers scoring in double figures led by Davis with 17 points, Samuels and Mikkelson netting 13 and Kamari Haston adding 11, Sanchez and forward Jimel Lane who scored 15 for Mater Academy brought an abrupt end to Martin County’s season.

“It’s just tough, when you get to this level, you have no room for mistakes and we made a bunch of them,” Leon said. “Again, tip my hat to Mater Academy. They made us make mistakes, they blocked shots with Lane at the rim, and their point guard made some timely buckets. It was another great season for Martin County, and we’ll keep striving to add to our state championship wall.”