The beat in Lakeland goes on for the Impact Christian boys basketball team.
The Lions shook off a rough third quarter and surged back late to beat Southwest Florida Christian 69-54 in the Class 2A state semifinal at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland on Wednesday morning.
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The Lions (20-8) are now 3-0 in state final four games. They advance to Saturday’s 10 a.m. state championship game, which be against nationally ranked Orlando Christian Prep (26-0). OCP crushed Grandview Prep 71-32 in the other semifinal. Impact has already faced OCP this season and lost 65-35.
It was tight for three quarters before Impact flipped the game in a hurry and turned it into a rout.
Southwest Florida went ice cold against Impact’s defense, committing five turnovers and missing its first five shot attempts of the final quarter before hitting a basket.
The Lions capitalized on that opportunity in a big way, turning that futility into a 15-0 blitz over the first five and a half minutes and turning the lights out on Southwest Florida Christian. Calvin Johnson and Jordan Mikell had a couple baskets apiece in that span for the Lions, whose defense had quite to do with the Kings’ implosion.
Impact, which trailed going into the final eight minutes, closed things on a 23-4 run.
Senior Calvin Johnson was stellar in his final state semi, going 10 of 11 from the field to lead the Lions with 21 points. Senior Ivan Lawson, another Impact veteran, had 15 points. Kelvin Johnson added 11 points.
Impact was dead on shooting, finishing 29 of 42 from the field (69.1%) as a team.