3A State Final: St. John Paul II wins on a walk-off dunk

<p>LAKELAND - Dreams are made at the state tournament. That is what the old adage says.</p> <p>On Tuesday night, 2019 St. John Paul II forward Allan Jeanne-Rose lived his dream and then some with a walk-off dunk in overtime to dethrone two-time defending champion Orlando Christian Prep, 50-48 in the Class 3A state final. It was a perfect feed down low from fellow senior Chosen Levarity (VIDEO BELOW).</p> <p>"I dreamt of a moment like that the whole year, especially on a dunk," Jeanne-Rose said. "The pass from Chosen (Levarity) was unbelievable. I just had to dunk it and finish it and win a state championship. We worked the whole year, never gave up on our dreams. We here today and we are state champs. We are taking it back to the city."</p> <p>Panthers (28-5) forward Jeanne-Rose finished with a game-best 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field as he was the only player to see the floor for all 32 minutes. St. John Paul II captured its very first state championship during its debut in the Final Four. </p> <p>"You imagine situations like that all the time. I mean I played basketball my whole life," St. John Paul II coach Titus Nixon said. "I've been coaching for a while now. You think of those situations and you kind of have those fantasies, state championship game what do I call? At the end of the day, it comes down to these young men making the biggest play of their life in the most crucial moment. </p> <p>...It ended up being a broken play and nothing that we called. Pass, pass and Allan (Jeanne-Rose) skies and makes the play of the year. That has to be one of the best finishes in state championship history. That was so unbelievable. It is extremely surreal right now."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Final in OT (3A State Final):<br /> <br /> St. John Paul II 50<br /> Orlando Christian Prep 48<br /> <br /> 2019 F Allan Jeanne-Rose wins it for St. John Paul II on a walk off dunk.<br /> <br /> ????leaders<a href="https://twitter.com/sjpiipanthers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sjpiipanthers</a> <br /> Jeanne-Rose 20<br /> Chosen Levarity 13<a href="https://twitter.com/OCPAthletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OCPAthletics</a><br /> Terrance Reese 11<br /> BJ Wagner 10<a href="https://twitter.com/CoachNixonJPII?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachNixonJPII</a> <a href="https://t.co/34WhYnEkKx">pic.twitter.com/34WhYnEkKx</a></p> — ᴊᴀᴋᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴘᴇʀ (@JakePerper) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakePerper/status/1103105368392126465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Orlando Christian Prep (23-6) had a chance to win in regulation on a jumper with 1.7 seconds left from 2019 Jonthy Candelario. The ball rimmed out and the horn blew for overtime.</p> <p>The Warriors made a furious rally after being down by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. In fact, Orlando Christian Prep netted only four points in the second quarter as it trailed 29-16 at the break.</p> <p>2020 guard Terrance Reese scored eight of his 11 points between the fourth quarter and overtime including a pair of corner 3's. 2020 guard BJ Wagner paced him with 10 points of his own and 2022 forward Ven Allen Lubin had nine points while 2020 guard Eric Butler was held to six points.</p> <p>A new look Orlando Christian Prep squad pulled off a tough semifinal win over Jupiter Christian, 67-61 on Monday night. Filled with athletes, the Warriors are young and return a slew of rising prospects including Allen Lubin, Butler and 2022 guard AJ Brown.</p> <p>On the winning end, the St. John Paul II defense continued its strong play from the semifinal victory over First Baptist and it made life awfully tough on Orlando Christian Prep.</p> <p>2019 forward Chosen Levarity was a beast on the board finishing with 15 rebounds along with 13 points for the Panthers. 2020 guard Tyreke Mcelwain added 10 points, playing much of the fourth quarter with four fouls.</p> <p>St. John Paul II was a focused group. Taking a substantial lead, the Panthers never really was rattled or visibly frustrated when Orlando Christian Prep rallied back. St. John Paul II's top three players were all in sync between Jeanne-Rose, Levarity and Mcelwain. 2019 guard Logan Roberts hit a big bucket to tie the game at 48-48 late in overtime.</p>