Lely Downs FBA on Buzzer Beater

Fans in attendance Friday, January 30, saw Lely High School at its best when Lely alum Scott Stewart brought his First Baptist Academy juggernaut to play one of Fritz Jacques’ best Lely teams. The standing room only crowd was anticipating a classic—and they got one—as Lely (18-5) beat FBA (20-5) on Jarrett Wilson's buzzer-beater layup to give the Trojans an exhilarating 57-55 win that saw the student section rush the court as the final shot cleared the net.

The exuberant students inadvertently knocked down one of the referees as the bleachers emptied. Following the game, another referee confirmed that his colleague was uninjured.

“I saw him get knocked down,” the referee said. “I ran right over. He’s okay. That’s the best atmosphere we’ve seen all season.”

Stewart, who played at Lely under his father, Don Stewart, before moving on to a standout career at the University of Florida and a lengthy pro basketball stint, was not surprised by Friday’s game.

"Great game,” Stewart said. "Friday night at Lely High School. Everything that we talked about in the last two days came to fruition. Wish it would have ended in our favor, but this is exactly what I talked about to my players. Friday night at Lely High School is one of the best environments you'll ever come to on Senior Night. It was a great, hyped up game. They played very well. Give them a lot of credit. We didn't shoot the ball that well. And playing from behind is not easy here on a Friday Senior Night. We were a little bit behind almost the whole game. Missing a lot of free throws (14-24) cost us. But you know, there’s nothing to hang our heads about. Lely's a good team. And sometimes a loss before the postseason can help our mindset, get a little bit more hungry and not cocky and arrogant or any of those things, which I don't think we are, but we just have to have more of a humble and hungry attitude."

Returning to the Lely gym where he starred as a teenager is always a big deal for Stewart, who has led the Lions to multiple Final Four appearances and may have his team poised to do so again this season.

"It's always special coming back to Lely for me,” Stewart said. "I thought Fritz did an excellent job coaching as well. So, hats off to them. Good luck to them in the districts. We want to win districts. We want to get back to the Final Four. And we'll have to improve on games like tonight to get there.”

Jacques couldn’t have been more excited about—and proud of—the effort put forth by his team.

“You've got to shout out the kids and all the fans,” Jacques said, motioning toward the bleachers. "All of this. This is the number one gym to come play in. That environment. I love it. Everybody knows that when you’re coming to Lely, that's plus ten points right there. Thank you to all the people that showed up for our seniors tonight. I appreciate you.”

Jacques knew his team had their work cut out for them. FBA was already 10-2 before adding mid-season transfer Brock Bass-Bonner, a 6’8”, four-star recruit from Kennesaw, Georgia. Jacques didn’t expect to shut down Bass-Bonner, who is averaging over 20 points a game.

"You can't stop a star player,” Jacques said. "The kid is a star. We just wanted to frustrate him. We wanted to be like a gnat at a barbecue, just irritating him. We just wanted to be all up in him. And they did a good job of that. But he still got his points. The whole plan was we didn’t want him to take over the game."

Bass-Bonner ended up with 17 points, one of three Lions in double figures along with Zander Stohl (13) and Andrew Lovell (11). Wilson led Lely with 13. Blake Boyd was the only other Trojan in double figures with 11. Nine players scored for the Trojans, which points to a staple of Jacques-coached Lely teams. Jacques typically rotates five players at a time, which allows his teams to play a pressing defense and fast-breaking offense the entire game. And the fact that Jacques has 12 seniors on this year’s squad contributes to the team’s success this season.

The win over FBA was a measuring stick type of game for the Trojans heading into the district tournament.

“We had a game plan, and we stuck to it,” Jacques said. "I never turned away from it. Even when we went down, we stuck to the game plan. I stuck to the tempo of the game. We were prepared for all the defenses that they threw at us. That's a great coaching staff over there with coach Scott Stewart and Carlos Clark. That's an elite coaching staff. So, I had to be on my P's and Q's, and I told the kids they needed to be on their P's and Q's, and we found a way. The boys had the will to win, and they left it all on the floor. We didn’t have any excuses. We didn't complain about anything. We just came out here and worked.”

The game was originally scheduled for earlier in the season, but Jacques negotiated with Stewart to move the game to the end of the regular season.

"Fritz asked me to play the Friday night before districts,” Stewart said. "I told him absolutely, because this will prepare us for a tough game in the future.”

Jacques agrees.

“It’s perfect,” Jacques said. "We rescheduled the game because I had to go to Nationals with the 14U South Naples Trojans football team. Thankfully, FBA was willing to reschedule the game, so I appreciate them.”

Now Jacques and Stewart wait to find out the schedule for the district tournament. But Jacques is not looking too far ahead. “One game at a time,” he said.