The following article is courtesy of Andre Fernandez of the Miami-Herald
Clarence Westbrook Jr. didn’t want to make history just once on St. Thomas Aquinas’ boys’ basketball team. So after a breakthrough run to a state championship a year earlier, Westbrook Jr. and his teammates took it upon themselves to become the first ever Raiders’ squad to win back-to-back state championships.
“It’s truly a blessing after putting in the work all offseason and the season. It was history,” Westbrook Jr. said. “The school hadn’t won a state title in over a decade and to do this not just once, but twice with my guys was great. We chased the same goal and this year we were used to that environment and weren’t as nervous and more prepared.”
Westbrook Jr. has been at the forefront of Aquinas’ rise in Broward County and emergence as one of the state’s most talented teams overall. This season, Westbrook Jr. averaged a team-best 23.6 points per game as well as 2.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. For those accomplishments, Westbrook Jr. is the Miami Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year for Classes 7A-4A.
Westbrook Jr. powered Aquinas to a BCAA Big 8 championship as well as district and regional titles, and ultimately the school’s third state crown overall. Westbrook Jr., a 6-1 junior guard, was part of a talented and deep roster, which also included guards DJ and KJ Sandi.
“The chemistry between us was crazy,” Westbrook Jr. said. It isn’t the first time in Westbrook Jr.’s family that they’ve made history, though. Westbrook’s father, Clarence Sr., played at Missouri University and was a star player at Dillard High in Fort Lauderdale in the late 1990s where he also won Player of the Year honors. Westbrook Jr. is hoping to continue his family’s legacy and perhaps make even more history next season if he can guide the Raiders to their first ever three-peat.
