Sports: Tigers are big on the 'little things'

Tigers are big on the 'little things'

By MIKE READLING, Times Staff Writer

TAMPA -- Jesuit coach Neal Goldman will be the first to tell you that a reason the Tigers are playing Avon Park in a Class 3A region semifinal tonight is he has players who don't score.

Don't get Goldman wrong. The players know how to score, they just don't spend the entire game trying.

The Tigers Goldman points to are Anthony Severino, Ryan Smyth and Joe Donoho. They're easy to spot because they are the ones diving for the loose balls, cleaning up offensive rebounds and, perhaps most importantly, passing the ball -- and the glory -- to the three guys who get all the points.

"They are very unselfish," Goldman said. "A lot of what we have accomplished we have accomplished thanks to the team concept."

A prime example was during Jesuit's quarterfinal against Bartow on Thursday night.

With the score tied at 62 and the Tigers' fourth overtime game of the season looming, Smyth passed up the potential winning shot and wound up with the decisive assist as Everett Egun sunk a 15-footer at the buzzer.

"We just do the little things that we have to to win ballgames," Smyth said.

Severino said: "It doesn't matter who scores as long as we win."

That attitude has buoyed Jesuit (24-6) into not only a great team but one of the most enjoyable squads Goldman said he has coached in 20 years. The Tigers began the season 1-2, allowing 78 and 81 points in the losses, before embarking on a journey that's seen a five overtime game, double OT, a single overtime contest and no opponent's score more than 70 points. Auburndale ended up in the 90s after a fifth OT, but had only 59 at the end of regulation.

The secret to Jesuit's success is good defense, then producing just enough offense to win.

Goldman said he can remember just one game in which he was comfortable with the lead and that many of the Tigers' contests are decided in the final minutes. That fact has a lot to do with another trio of players.

First, there's James Bunn, who Goldman calls "one of the best guards in the city." Bunn leads the team in assists and points (19 per game) and routinely plays all 32 minutes. Alan Schonbrun is the go-to guy late in a game when shots from the free-throw line often decide the outcome. The junior has hit 153 of his 179 attempts (85 percent), leading a squad that shoots 75 percent.

"We're best when the pressure is on at the end of the game," Goldman said. "I've never seen any high school team shoot free throws like this."

Then there's Egun, a senior who averages 16 points and 8.5 rebounds. He kept Jesuit alive Thursday by capping a nine-point comeback in the final four minutes.

Egun attributes the Tigers' success late in games to all their overtime and buzzer-beating experiences.

"The biggest part of this season is that we're able to keep our poise," Egun said. "A lot of teams would have given up, but we're used to it."