The Berean Christian School boys varsity basketball team, under the direction of head coach John Lantz, has struggled at times this season. After the team’s first 16 games, the squad had compiled a 6-10 record. That included a rough stretch in mid-December where Berean lost five of their nine games.
But Lantz never gave up on his 11-player squad. He recalled a quote from longtime NBA coach and current Miami Heat President Pat Riley.
“Coach Riley once said, ‘Hard work does not guarantee success, but without it, success is virtually impossible.’ So, our team continued to work hard in practice and in games,” said Lantz, now in his 17th year as the head boys basketball coach at Berean.
The Bulldogs opened 2025 by splitting their first four games. Then, Lantz and his team packed their bags for a two-day, two-game trip to the AdventHealth Fieldhouse in Winter Haven to compete in the Sunshine State Athletic Conference (SSAC) annual tournament. In its four-team bracket, Berean was the fourth seed. On paper, the young Bulldogs were expected to lose both games.
“Basketball games are not played on paper, and we were committed to teamwork and excellence on the court,” Lantz said.
On Friday, Jan. 17, Berean played the top-seeded Warriors from Seven Rivers Christian School in Lecanto, Florida. As Lantz expected, his team responded with its best game of the season. Going into the fourth quarter, Berean led 56-36, outscoring Seven Rivers by five points in the first quarter, nine points in the second quarter and six points in the third quarter. Even though the Warriors outscored the Bulldogs by 11 points in the fourth quarter, Berean held on and won, 67-58.
That win propelled the Bulldogs into the championship bracket to face the Trailblazers from Punta Gorda’s Babcock High School on Saturday, Jan. 18. For Berean, the biggest hurdle to overcome was the presence of the Trailblazers’ Jameson Habing, who is 6-foot-9 and weighs 280 pounds. Berean’s tallest player is 6-foot-3.
“It was a David-versus-Goliath matchup, and we were David,” Lantz recalled.
To win, Berean needed to play exceptional defense. It was a low-scoring, back-and-forth game. Berean was outscored by Babcock in the first quarter, 9-4. But by halftime, Berean had cut into the deficit and only trailed by three points, 16-13.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs continued to improve and outscored the Trailblazers by five to take a two-point lead, 25-23, going into the fourth quarter. In the final quarter, Berean scored just eight points, but the Bulldogs held the Trailblazers to seven points. In the end, Berean prevailed, 33-30, to improve its record to 8-10.
“We put together a game plan of really trying to be patient in our offensive sets and by limiting their possessions,” Lantz said. “On defense, we scrambled and double-teamed Habing every time he touched the ball. Even though Derek Vasquez is 6-foot-3, we put Alyk Smith, who is 6-foot-1, on Habing. Alyk is stocky and was stronger on Habing.”
Lantz is expecting his team to showcase that same energy and commitment to excellence for the balance of the season and into the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Class 1A postseason, which starts in early February.
