4A State Final: Westminster earns the 3-Peat in win over Seffner Christian

<p>LAKELAND - It was never easy, but Westminster came to the state tournament to get it done and the Lions did just that on Thursday afternoon, beating Seffner Christian 77-73.</p> <p>Westminster (25-5), won its third straight state title in Class 4A in its fourth consecutive appearance in the state championship.</p> <p>Behind 24 points from 2019 UT Arlington signee Sam Griffin, the Lions put the game on ice late with his attacking and fellow 2019 IPFW signee Chase Johnston’s 19 points (four straight free throws) in the final minute.</p> <p>This title came without Zach Scott, a current freshman at FGCU who was on the Westminster bench for the entire game supporting his former squad.</p> <p>"It was different. When I looked down and saw him, I was like ’can you dress’? Obviously last year him having that 35-point night in the final and making it a little easier," coach Ehren Wallhoff said. "Having Zach here, he’s been instrumental in our program and these guys’ lives. I’m excited to see the next step and hopefully, they are back with us another time. If not they are playing in the NCAA tournament. I’ll take that to."</p> <p>The Lions earned solid play from both state first timers in 2022 6’9" forward [player_tooltip player_id="814903" first="Ben" last="Middlebrooks"] (18 points on 8-of-8 from the field) and 2020 guard [player_tooltip player_id="827957" first="Stephan" last="Swenson"] (14 points). Middlebrooks also had 17 rebounds in the semifinal win over University Christian on Wednesday.</p> <p>"I was definitely nervous coming out but I had faith in my teammates," Middlebrooks said. "Moments like today, we came out slow, but I tried to get rebounds and make shots."</p> <p>As for the talk of a dynasty, coach Wallhoff said it was certainly fun to earn a 3-peat.</p> <p>"I don’t know if we can call it a dynasty but I am proud of these guys," he said. "Chase has been here six years. I even coached him in a junior high game. It has been fun to watch him grow and see the development of these guys."</p> <p>For Seffner Christian (25-7), the Crusaders were back in the state tournament for the second time in three years after a semifinal loss to this same Westminster group in 2016 with a deep senior unit. </p> <p>This go around, Seffner Christian punched its ticket to its very first state championship and it was a close battle all game long with both teams’ biggest leads at seven points.</p> <p>"Outside of our team, I don’t think a lot of us gave us a chance and understandably so," coach Sam Moorer said. "To get to this point, I’m bummed we lost and I hate for these guys but I hope they wake up one day soon and realize how special this is."</p> <p>The Crusaders have a ton of length and talent to brag about with 2021 6’6" guard [player_tooltip player_id="714775" first="Mike" last="Trigg"] (33 points on 10-of-17 shooting, 10-of-11 from the free throw line), 2021 6’6" guard [player_tooltip player_id="549015" first="Willie" last="Jones"] (12 points, 12 rebounds). 2019 forward Cornelius Bobo finished with 16 points as well.</p> <p>Seffner Christian held Johnston, a known sharpshooter in check until the fourth quarter as he had only six points. However, the fourth quarter was a hot start for Johnston, who hit a corner 3 and then went to the rack for a 3-point play. </p> <p>"I think he (Johnston) had six points at halftime and finished with 19," Moorer said. "He’s good. They set good screens. I thought these two (Isaiah Reed and Khalil Waleed) stayed in it the whole game. That was hard to come back from."</p> <p>For Trigg, he always dreamed of this moment.</p> <p>"Coming into this game, I used to come to the Lakeland Center as a young kid always wanting to play in this tournament," Trigg said. "We showed up but we just came up short."</p> <p>Trigg told me after the game that he’s still mulling over who to play for this summer for travel ball.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Final Score (4A State Final):<br /> <br /> Westminster 77<br /> Seffner Christian 73<br /> <br /> The Lions win their 3rd straight state title. <br /> <br /> ????leaders <a href="https://twitter.com/LIONSPRIDEBBALL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LIONSPRIDEBBALL</a> <br /> Sam Griffin 26<br /> Chase Johnston 19<br /> [player_tooltip player_id="814903" first="Ben" last="Middlebrooks"] 18<a href="https://twitter.com/SCACrusaders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SCACrusaders</a> <br /> [player_tooltip player_id="714775" first="Mike" last="Trigg"] 33<br /> Cornelius Bobo 16<br /> [player_tooltip player_id="549015" first="Willie" last="Jones"] 12 <a href="https://t.co/vOOlAGsoHb">pic.twitter.com/vOOlAGsoHb</a></p> — ᴊᴀᴋᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴘᴇʀ (@JakePerper) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakePerper/status/1103754329910112264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>