The Providence High School Boys’ Basketball team entered the 2014-2015 season with visions of another trip to Lakeland and a 3A State championship in mind. The Stallions won the title in 2013 but were upset in the state semifinal last year. This year’s squad had the size, athleticism, and experience to make another deep playoff run.
Head coach Jim Martin and his staff saw the regular season as a means to prepare for the tournament. They purposefully scheduled tough teams to constantly test themselves. They went to Tennessee and played in a tournament. They matched up with Potter’s House, Arlington Country Day, and Miami Central and beat them all. Their only blemish on an otherwise perfect season came by two points.
“Never in our wildest dreams, with our competition that we played, did we think we would be 31-1 at the end of the season,” Coach Martin said. “We thought we would play a tough schedule, take some lumps, and learn from them. These guys were so resilient in how they played all these close games. They would just figure out a way to win it and execute and do all the right things, make key free throws, and they literally did it the entire season.”
Providence won their first three tournament games by a combined score of 257-151. They were down by nine points early to The First Academy in the state semifinals before rallying to win by eight. Then, in the championship, they avenged their loss from the previous year to Sagemont, 66-57. It was their second State title in three years and third overall for the program under Coach Martin.
The Stallions were led by their five starting upperclassmen. Wyatt Walker kept them balanced in big spots, when his teammates were in foul trouble, or when the crowd noise was deafening. His knowledge and savvy as a four-year starter was invaluable. LaDarien Griffin’s athleticism and hustle made him a terrible matchup for opponents on both ends of the floor. He will play for St. Bonaventure University next year. Jason Burnell was a scoring machine and routinely posted double-doubles with equally impressive rebounding skills. Deion Johnson never turned the ball over. His ability to find the open man with the ball while avoiding mistakes allowed for more efficient offensive possessions. Ben Bobbitt was First-Team All-Tournament after he locked down Sagemont’s Prince Ali, ranked #44 on ESPN’s national recruiting list.
Coach Martin says, “There’s something to be said when you have five seniors that know this is their last dance, last hurrah, and then they play like that. They just never wanted it to finish, wanted to finish on such a great note. Those guys will remember that forever. There was a time when one of the coaches thought we should sub in one of the younger kids for one of the seniors and I just refused to do it. We were going to finish this out with the seniors that got us there.”
North Florida/ Special Feature/ April 2015
Providence High School Basketball
Providence High School
Jacksonville, FL
Brandon Ibarra
Providence Boys’ Basketball Captures Second State Title in Three Years
