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Wildcats won't overlook foes
By JAMAL THALJI, Times Staff Writer WESLEY CHAPEL -- They don't have a winning record. They didn't win their own district tournament. Their best player stands 5-feet, 4-inches tall. And the only reason the Avon Park Red Devils are even in Saturday's Class 3A, Region 3 final is because that player, Kirk Taylor, sank a desperation 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left over three much bigger defenders to beat No. 10 Jesuit 76-73 in Tuesday night's semifinals. So is Wesley Chapel (24-8) taking Avon Park (12-13) lightly, with a berth in the state final four at stake? Absolutely, positively not. "You can't overlook anyone in the elite eight," Wildcats coach Kent Mills said. "You just can't. It's so obvious that there's a lot of talent and good basketball players at Avon Park, so we have to step it up just like any other game." No, neither team can afford to take the other lightly, especially since neither team foresaw the upsets Tuesday night that would lead to one of the unlikeliest pairings in the state playoffs. Red Devils coach James Whitney didn't expect Wesley Chapel to upset No. 3-ranked Immokalee 58-55 on Tuesday, either. "I don't know how quick this Wesley Chapel team is," Whitney said. "But it had to be their quickness to beat a team (as fast) as Immokalee. For the first time, we may see a team as quick as we are." Saturday's regional final will showcase two teams very similar to each other (and Wesley Chapel has gotten used to playing such teams this postseason). Both teams are guard-oriented with blazing team speed; both like the transition game, both like to press and both can shoot the 3-pointer. Against Jesuit, Avon Park's Whitney used a four-guard rotation, sending in 5-9 Robert McCrae, 5-6 Kevin Faison and 5-8 Damion Young. Dustin Chamberlain, the 6-foot-5 center, started inside. As the Tigers extended their defense to cover the guards, Avon Park took to the lanes to score. "The key was that we made so many adjustments in the game, and that was thanks to the headiness of the four guards," Whitney said. "So down the stretch (the Tigers) were shooting three's and we were shooting more two's, and that will lead to a higher percentage of shots." Against the Wildcats, Whitney expects to go with an even smaller lineup, perhaps starting 6-2 Alfonso Williams. And to think the Red Devils actually struggled earlier this season, starting 4-10 because of inexperience. Avon Park has since gone 8-3, and winning seven straight. "It was their innate ability to believe in themselves all along," Whitney said, "otherwise I wouldn't have them here. But they did prove to themselves that they can jell as a team and rely on each other." Belief is an advantage Wesley Chapel has held all season long, Mill said, and one that paid off handsomely during the Wildcats' late-season surge into the postseason. "My message to the team always has been to believe in each other, and victory will follow," Mills said. "I never lost belief in them (for the Immokalee game.) "My belief was that this is a tough basketball team, with a lot of great talents on it, and we better step up to the challenge. "I believed their effort, heart and character had been there every day, all day, night in and night out, but could they go out and do it?" Mills said the team's growth over the last three weeks of the season -- Wesley Chapel has gone from being swept by Ridgewood to lose the conference title, to almost losing to Pasco in the district semis, to the verge of the final four -- is what would carry it to Lakeland. "That's why I think they've grown as a team," Mills said. "They truly believe in each other's abilities and themselves, and they believe they can win."
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From today's Pasco Times |
