JACKSONVILLE — Central Florida Christian Academy stood toe-to-toe and bucket-for-bucket with No. 1 ranked Sagemont Prep for the first six minutes of a Thursday afternoon Class 1A boys basketball semifinal game at the University of North Florida.

CFCA, seeded fourth in the small-school final four, made difficult baskets early to take the lead against a Sagemont team stacked with college prospects. A 3-point shot by CFCA senior Sean Storr tied the score at 8-8.

Another trey, by Eagles point guard Joshua Hernandez, gave CFCA a 12-11 lead. Two scores in traffic by CFCA senior Alexander Dipaolo made it 19-16 in favor of the underdogs.

But a 14-1 run by Sagemont, ignited by a 3-point shot by LSU signee Kevin Thomas, turned the tide and put the Broward County academy power in control of a game that was intense and physical from start to finish. Sagemont (23-6), which was nationally-ranked early this season, won 76-60 and will play Saturday for its fourth consecutive FHSAA state title.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” said Eagles coach Albert Settles, who took on the CFCA program last season following an uncharacteristic 6-19 season in 2023-24. “That was a man’s game. Our guys don’t quit. Sagemont is really physical and they hit big-time shots that really got them going.”

CFCA finished 23-7 after reaching the final four for the first time since its 2019 state championship.

“We laid the foundation last year. It really means a lot that the four seniors who have been here trusted and believed in me — especially being a first time (head) coach. We’ll be back here, I know that.”

CFCA senior Alexander Dipaolo led his team with 16 points. Hernandez, a junior, had 10 points and a game-high 10 assists. Trevor Miller, also a junior, scored 11 points and Storr finished with 9.

“We knew we belonged here,” Dipaolo said. “We worked hard for this. We played for each other all season. At the end of the day, basketball is a game of runs and (Sagemont) had the bigger runs.”

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The Eagles played the entire season without their leading scorer from last season, senior Julian DeClou. He suffered a preseason ACL injury.

Thomas, a 6-7 senior shooting guard, scored a game-high 27 points for Sagemont, which is 23-6 against a challenging schedule. He was 5-for-11 on 3-point shots. David Nealy, a 6-3 senior, added 24 points and was 5-of-9 on treys in the win. Obinna Ekufu, a 6-6 senior, added 9 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in the win.

Sagemont made 11 3s and CFCA hit 8.

Sagemont will play for its seventh state championship on Saturday at 5. The opponent will be the winner of Thursday night’s semifinal that matches hometown Impact Academy (27-4) of Jacksonville, the second seed, against Victory Christian (24-6) of Lakeland.

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Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.