It was a tale of two halves. The first half was as bad as it could get for the Lightning. The second half was an absolute masterpiece.

Krop defeated defending state champion Miami High, 68-60, in the Class 6A Regional Quarterfinal on Feb. 16 and made the statement that they are a championship-caliber team.

After being down 2-7 in the first quarter, the Lightning went on a 9-4 run to tie the score at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. Miami High star center Dwayne Collins scored all 11 of his team’s first quarter points while a 2-2-1 zone defense held Krop three-point shots. That’s when it got ugly.

The Lightning were outscored 23-9 in the second quarter and found themselves in a 14-point halftime deficit, 34-20.

“Shakey told us to play defense, cover the shooters, and play with heart,” center Luis Colon said of his coach’s halftime speech. The team responded.

The Lightning opened the second half on a 13-6 run sparked by three three-pointers by Javi Gonzalez, who finished with a team high 26 points. Gonzalez also had five steals in the game, four of them coming in the second half. With 12.6 seconds left in the third, Gonzalez nailed a three to narrow the lead to 43-46 heading into the final quarter.

“I drove more to the basket. I was just trying to be more aggressive,” Gonzalez said on his second half performance.

Then with 6:25 left in the fourth, Orane Chin, who played despite a knee injury, gave the Lightning their first lead since the first quarter at 48-46. That’s when the defense kicked in. Collins was held to zero points in the final four minutes of the game and had only eight points in the second half, as the Lightning erased a 14-point halftime deficit to help Coach Rodriguez knock off his former team, 68-60.

“We played with a lot more intensity in the second half. We dominated the defensive side of the ball and got the ball inside to Orane [Chin] and Luis [Colon],” Rodriguez said.

“The team showed a lot of heart, everybody stepped up,” Chin said.

The Lightning (28-3) defeated Coral Park (20-8) in the regional semifinals on Feb. 21, 60-30.