With chance for first district title, Out-of-Door’s rally falls short against Sarasota Christian

Nine points and nearly eight minutes separated Out-of-Door Academy from its first district title Friday, and with Out-of-Door desperate to close the gap against Sarasota Christian, the Thunder turned up the pressure. ODA began to pick up the Blazers with full-court man-to-man pressure, and on five straight possessions Out-of-Door forced Sarasota Christian into turnovers.

During both of the Blazers’ previous blowout losses to the Thunder this season, Sarasota Christian was felled by one disastrous quarter. For a handful of minutes during the Class 3A-District 5 championship, a messy fourth quarter created a window for an ODA comeback.

“We just had to weather that storm,” Blazers head coach Kevin Landrum said. “That’s what it looked like, except they were able to convert a little bit more. Fortunately for us, they missed some of those.”

Sarasota Christian’s nine-point lead only shrunk to four during the scoring drought. Out-of-Door, which finished the regular season as Class 3A’s No. 5 team in the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches/Source Hoops poll, could never climb back ahead. The Blazers stunned the Thunder, 62-58, to win Class 3A-5 inside Hoagland Arena.

Instead of opening the Class 3A-Region 3 playoffs at home, ODA (19-4) will play its region semifinal Thursday in Fort Myers against No. 2 Southwest Florida Christian Academy. The Thunder are still heading to the state playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“Yes, I was mad. Yes, I wanted us to win, but at the same time these are young men and you can learn a lesson from this,” head coach Marcus Liberty said. “We still are going to go to the regional.”

Out-of-Door led for most of the first three quarters until senior Hunter Clark broke off a personal 8-0 run midway through the third period for Sarasota Christian (18-8) to turn a 34-32 deficit into a 40-34 lead.

Clark’s addition to the starting lineup was the Blazers’ most notable change from the two regular season matchups, which ended in 25- and 15-point victories for the Thunder. Sarasota Christian typically starts 6-foot-8 senior twins Jon and Tim DeLaRosa at its two post positions. ODA’s four- and five-guard lineups, though, prompted Landrum to bring Jon DeLaRosa off the bench.

Landrum’s move was a stroke of brilliance. The Thunder missed 11 layups against the DeLaRosa’s rotating rim protection. Clark led Sarasota Christian with 16 points in a rare start.

“He did a great job,” Liberty said of Landrum. “He balanced it out.”

The Blazers’ lead swelled to nine points after a basket by junior Jordan Litwiller on the first possession of the fourth quarter and the Thunder turned up its pressure. ODA made six straight stops — five by way of turnovers — only to manage five points of its own during the stretch.

Out-of-Door never reclaimed the lead, although the Thunder did eventually pull as close as one point behind Amad Brayboy’s 13-point fourth quarter. Sarasota Christian struggled to contain the guard on the perimeter and when he got into the paint he found his way to the free-throw line eight times. The DeLaRosa handed out fouls to keep Brayboy relatively in check — he finished with game-high 27, but went only 9 for 13 at the line.

“He was ready to play,” Liberty said. “He was about the one that I felt that was ready to play. He came out aggressively on defense and offense.”

With less than a minute remaining, the Blazers’ lead hovered between two and four points, and Sarasota Christian sunk the free throws it needed to hold the Thunder at bay.

Liberty had a hunch from the start of the game that ODA may have overlooked the Blazers after the two regular-season routs. When Out-of-Door couldn’t put Sarasota Christian away early, a potentially stress-free championship game turned into a nailbiter and in the one meeting which truly mattered the Blazers kept the Thunder from making history.

“I told our guys after we lost the last game that I knew we hadn’t played our best game against them,” Landrum said. “Whether that was going to be good enough for not, I didn’t know, but I at least wanted another shot at them.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 11:20 PM with the headline "With chance for first district title, Out-of-Door’s rally falls short against Sarasota Christian."