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Tigers put away Crusaders 65-48

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© St. Petersburg Times
published January 26, 2002

TAMPA -- When Everette Egun jogged onto the court for pregame introductions Friday night, the Jesuit student section bowed. And when he left the court in the final minute of the game, the same crowd gave him a standing ovation.

What he did in between was score 23 points, grab eight rebounds, block one shot and make one steal to lead Jesuit to a 65-48 win against rival Tampa Catholic at the Bob Martinez Sports Center. The Tigers beat the Crusaders two weeks ago as well, but instead of a 17-point win, they won by just three. In that game, Egun had 15 points.

"We were more ready, mentally and physically," Egun said. "We knew we had to get (shots) down early and keep them from coming back.

"Scoring early was the key for us."

Jesuit started the game on a 12-1 run, including six points from Egun.

It took Tampa Catholic 4 minutes, 10 seconds to get its first basket. After Jesuit scored six consecutive points, TC went on a 9-0 run to finish the first quarter down by five. During that run, all but two points came from Justin Collington, who finished with 11. After Ryan Smyth tipped the ball in to give Jesuit a 19-12 lead, Tampa Catholic (11-11) cut the deficit to three thanks to layups by Ryan Tokarz and Anthony Messina.

But Egun made two free throws and Jesuit pushed the lead to 31-23 at halftime.

The Tigers (16-3) came out hot in the second half, scoring 16 while holding the Crusaders to nine.

While Egun and Alan Schonbrun, who finished with 17 points, fueled the offense, they didn't mind sharing the spotlight.

With 1:32 left in the third quarter, Egun had an easy shot, but instead passed to James Bunn for a 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 47-32 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"I knew I had an easy basket, but I saw a better opportunity," Egun said. "I'm part of a team, that's what I'm supposed to do."

After a sloppy first half in which he had three points and three turnovers, TC's Messina scored six points in the third quarter and finished with 15.

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