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Miami Herald
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Calvary Christian's Shon Abaev is the Broward 3A-1A Boys' Basketball Player of the Year
Calvary Christian senior forward Shon Abaev had long been considered one of the best high school basketball players in the nation. But a state championship had been missing from his resume. That changed this past season when Abaev stood at the forefront of a return to prominence for the Eagles' program. 'That was huge. It felt good to end my high school career as a state champion,' Abaev said. Abaev capped an outstanding high school career with that title and led the Eagles to an impressive 22-1 record and a No. 5 national ranking by MaxPreps. As such, Abaev is the Miami Herald's Broward County Boys' Basketball Player of the Year for Classes 3A-1A. Led by Abaev, Calvary Christian won its fourth state title overall and first since 2022 after prevailing in a nail-biter, 66-64 in the Class 3A final against The Villages. Abaev then went on to earn McDonald's All-American honors and participated in the recent McDonald's All-American Game, an event which has featured some of the game's greats for decades. Abaev played for the East squad during the contest on April 1 in Brooklyn, which also included Cameron and Cayden Boozer from Columbus and several other top prospects. 'McDonald's was a big-time opportunity for me,' Abaev said. 'A lot of big names have been in that one. I felt blessed to be able to be another one.' Abaev, a 6-7 small forward, is next headed to play for the University of Cincinnati in the fall. He is rated a five-star prospect by multiple evaluators and regarded as one of the best and most polished scorers in this year's class. His work ethic, however, is what his teammates and coaches at Calvary Christian rave about. 'It's a different game in college. The speed and physicality gets tougher and I've got to prepare for that,' Abaev said. 'We played a lot of games with the shot clock at Calvary so that prepares you too. The schedule we played helped too because it's a lot of the guys I'll be playing against. 'I just have to keep focused and not get distracted. Just go over there and win, and help (Cincinnati) make it to March Madness next year.'
Miami Herald
02-03-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Calvary Christian boys' hoops comes full circle with dramatic state championship victory
Calvary Christian's boys' basketball team came full circle. A year ago, the Eagles were left on the court feeling the pain of a season-ending loss to rival North Broward Prep in the regional finals with three-tenths of a second left on the clock. On Saturday night in Lakeland, it was Calvary Christian's turn to flip the script. Junior guard Kenneth Francis Jr.'s fall away jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining ended up being the game-winner, which secured the Eagles a thrilling 66-64 victory over The Villages in the Class 3A state championship game at the RP Funding Center. After a timeout, Villages guard Adyn Corbin's desperation heave from halfcourt at the buzzer was an airball and Calvary Christian players and coaches ran onto the court to celebrate a moment of redemption a year in the making. 'Hats off to Villages, they were awesome,' Calvary Christian coach Cilk McSweeney said. 'Every zone trap we did that's worked against every team we faced, they broke it and made shot after shot. We just had to find a way. This was one of the toughest games we had to dig out a win for sure. It's all about perseverance and being resilient and keep fighting.' As Calvary Christian celebrates its triumph, it also hopes to receive an invitation to the Chipotle Nationals April 3-5 in Fishers, Indiana and an opportunity to compete for a national championship. The Eagles (22-1), who are ranked No. 3 nationally by MaxPreps, won their third state title since 2021 and made it back to the top after a two-year gap. Calvary Christian made the choice to go independent for the 2022-23 season and a play a completely national schedule, but struggled to a 7-15 record. Last season, it appeared the Eagles were primed to win another state title, but suffered the aforementioned heartbreaker. Calvary Christian used '0.3' as its motivation this season. It led the Eagles all the way to Lakeland on Saturday where they found themselves in another dicey situation, which also could have ended in heartbreak. Tied at 64 with 16.1 seconds left, senior guard, Cincinnati signee and McDonald's All-American Shon Abaev held the ball behind the 3-point line as he looked for the final shot. He drove to the basket and put up a solid attempt that barely rimmed out. But Francis Jr. surged in and grabbed the rebound and quickly turned and fired his shot as he fell away from the basket. 'I just knew I had to attack the rim just in case (Abaev) missed it,' Francis Jr. said. 'We've been in this spot many times before so I knew I had to do it. It was a very intense game and I love these types of games.' And so Calvary Christian players and coaches relished the other side of the spectrum of emotions after a dramatic roller coaster game, which was tied 11 times and had 19 lead changes and neither team able to stretch a lead over seven points. 'It's amazing because we played in a lot of close games against a lot of tough teams (this season),' Abaev said. 'We stayed calm the whole time and had a little outburst, but we believed in ourselves, we stuck to the game plan and came out on top.' Ironically, Francis Jr. picked up his teammates in the game's most important moment after a quiet night on the scoresheet. After scoring 25 points in the Eagles' semifinal win over Cardinal Gibbons, he finished with six points and five rebounds. Abaev recorded a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Colin Paul came close to a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. But one of the most clutch performances that helped Calvary keep pace with The Villages (26-6) throughout the game and eventually prevail came from sophomore guard Cayden Daughtry, who shot 7 for 12 from the field, 2 for 5 from 3-point range and 7 for 7 from the free throw line and finished with a game-high 23 points. 'We played some of the top teams in the nation, but this game was definitely one of the hardest,' Daughtry said. 'They played their hearts out and we had to bring out all our effort to win this one.' Twice, the Buffalo threatened to build a big lead when they got ahead by five in the third quarter. Each time, Calvary Christian responded. A trying moment in the game came when junior Sam Hallas was ejected after drawing a technical foul with 6:16 left in the third quarter. Aaron Britt Jr., who had 14 points for The Villages, proceeded to hit both free throws and moments later, Jared Thompson scored to push the Buffalo's lead to 39-34. Abaev answered at the other end with a layup and a free throw after drawing a foul. The Villages extended the lead back to five and Daughtry answered with five consecutive points to tie the game at 42. 'We should have won it last year,' Daughtry said. 'The fact that we came back after all that adversity, got to where we wanted to be and won it.'
