Cayden Lancelin made a split-second decision.
With five seconds remaining in the rock fight that was the championship game of the 43rd Sunkist Shootout, Westgate held a 37-35 lead. But after a steal at midcourt, St. Thomas More had possession and a chance to win the game on its home court.
That’s when the Westgate sophomore guard made his decision to try and block STM’s three-point attempt at the buzzer. It proved to be the winning decision.
“They passed the ball, I looked at the time, and it was one second, so I said, ‘I’ve just got to jump for it, and I just blocked the shot,” Lancelin said afterwards.
Lancelin’s block sealed the victory and gave Westgate its first Sunkist Shootout championship.
“We had some tough plays,” said STM coach Danny Broussard, who has guided STM to six state titles and more than 1,000 wins in his career. “We had some tough plays that could have gotten us. We wouldn’t have been in that situation where we were down so much. We just didn’t capitalize, but let’s give them some credit. They made some big plays as well.”
The first quarter would indicate just how much of a back-and-forth defensive game it would be. Points were at a premium, but when they did come, they arrived in bunches.
With 30 seconds left in the opening quarter, Westgate’s Dakylon Joseph drained a corner three-pointer to give the Tigers an 11-7 lead. STM answered with a three by Mack Tasman, but then Joseph hit a contested three at the buzzer to give Westgate a 14-10 lead at the end of the first.
“We’re used to it because that’s the way it is at practice,” Westgate coach Oliver Winston said. “When we play each other, nobody’s going to get a lot of points. So I knew they weren’t gonna panic because, you know, if the game was going to be in the 20s or the ’30s, they’re okay with that.”
STM got a spark in the second as Ryan Robertson hit a couple of jumpers and then moments later, LC Carbo found Landen Ortte underneath the basket for a layup. STM outscored Westgate 8-3 in the second and led 18-17 at the break.
The third quarter continued to be a back-and-forth but Westgate seized the lead at the end of the period, as Tiger freshman Zyier Stokes drained a three-pointer to give Westgate a 28-26 lead.
“We knew they were going to pack to zone in, to try to slow us down,” said Winston, who has been the only coach Westgate High has had since its inception in 1999. “I thought we took some not-so-good shots in the first half. And we didn’t look in the middle of the floor. It was just a matter of us reminding ourselves what the game plan was.”
The end of the game was one of clutch moments, a little chaos, and missed opportunities.
With 2:16 remaining, Westgate led 35-30 after a bucket by Antonio Quetel. STM responded with a baseline dunk by Michael Lacour that brought the Cougars’ home crowd to its feet.
“I thought we played our game tonight and they just beat us at our game,” Broussard said. “I thought our own defense was really good, except, again, the difference between last night and tonight, against Neville, we didn’t give up second shots. Again, they’re active, you know, they give them credit. They’re very active on the boards. And we’re just didn’t do a good job.”
The crowd-pleasing slam did not rattle Westgate as Chance Archangel made a layup for his second field goal of the game. STM’s Xarian Babineaux trimmed the lead down to two points with a three-pointer, and then Ryan Robertson stole the ball from Westgate.
With 40 seconds left and trailing by two, STM had possession and appeared primed to take the lead, or at least tie the game. Then disaster happened for the Cougars, as Landon Ortte was called for double dribble.
“I have done a poor job of us going over late-game situations,” Broussard said. “We haven’t worked on these situations like this. I usually put 45 seconds on the clock down by two, so it’s something that we’re familiar with. So I think it’s my fault. I put them in an unfamiliar situation.”
“In the end, I don’t think either one of us wanted it,” Winston said. “You know, we kept giving the ball to each other. But these kids have been together so long that they are extremely resilient.”
Despite the misstep, STM wasn’t done fighting, as Babineaux swiped the ball out of Westgate’s hands at midcourt, giving the Cougars one final chance to tie or win the game.
That’s when Lancelin swatted away STM’s chance of winning.
“We just had to play real good defense,” said Lancelin, who was selected as Sunkist Mr. Basketball after scoring 10 points, pulling down six rebounds, and a game-winning block. “They deflected a lot of our passes at the end of the game. And we just had to keep playing defense. That’s what won us the game.”