A relentless effort from Mater Lakes’ boys’ hoops delivers school’s first state title

Mater Lakes coach Dylan Estock planted the state championship trophy on the postgame press conference table with an audible thud.

Estock, flanked by Bears’ players Christian Reid, Michael Bradley and Anthony Knowles, then sat and took a breath.

It was the first time all afternoon, they slowed down.

But that relentless effort is why the Mater Lakes boys’ basketball team can now call itself a state champion for the first time after blitzing The Villages Charter 77-41 in the Class 4A state final on Saturday at the RP Funding Center.

Mater Lakes, which opened its doors in 2006, also won its first state championship in any team sport.

Mater Lakes assistant coaches wore T-shirts that read “We > Me,” a motto the team followed throughout Estock’s first season as head coach, after spending last season as an assistant coach with the program.

“I’m at a loss for words right now,” Estock said. “The definition of that game was ‘we over me.’ I thought they sacrificed their bodies on the defensive side and on offense we shared the ball incredibly well and we preach that all the time in practice and those kids will go through an (expletive) wall for us every day.”

On Saturday, 10 different Bears scored points led by their primary trio of senior Michael Bradley, junior Christian Reid and sophomore Anthony Knowles.

Bradley, a Barry University signee, heard “M-V-P” chants from Bears fans after the game after he delivered 21 points, most of which came on 5 of 11 shooting from 3-point range. Four of those triples came in the second quarter when Mater Lakes broke the game open, building a lead as large as 23 points.

“Losing was never a choice,” Bradley said. “We weren’t accepting that. We walked into the game saying, ‘We’re winning by 30 or by 40.’ That’s why what happened wasn’t a surprise.”

Knowles totaled 13 points, six rebounds and six assists while Reid dominated inside with 20 points and seven rebounds. Two days after Mater Lakes shot an awful 5 for 36 in the first half, it shot 14 for 30 in the first half on Saturday and 29 for 54 (53.7 percent) for the game.

Reid exemplified the confidence Mater Lakes had throughout the game and was asked postgame when he knew the Bears were going to win.

“As soon as we walked on the court,” Reid responded.

That was evident by the job Mater Lakes did shutting down a potent Villages team, which entered the tournament averaging 64.5 points per game.

Reid did a stellar job containing Villages forward Sam Walters, an Alabama signee, who shot only 3 for 12 and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

“We just want to make things extremely difficult for people (on the court),” Estock said. “We usually play full court man-to-man and we’re very specific on matchups. We walked in today and didn’t give them any matchups. It was all about eliminating pauses. Every single shot after it goes in, we’re immediately matched up with their players and that’s what led to our defensive percentage.”

Just like Riviera Prep, which also won its first ever state title on Saturday, it might only be the start for Mater Lakes in terms of championships since the Bears have only two seniors on their roster.

“This doesn’t even feel real to me knowing that all the work we put in has paid off,” Reid said. “I know we’ll be back again next year, I’ll make sure we are.”

Riviera Prep boys’ basketball rides smothering defense to school’s first state title