Tampabay: Lakewood set for title game

ST. PETERSBURG -- The kids milling around Lakewood High School's television news studio Friday morning were juiced. Many of them were operating on six hours of sleep, having been in Lakeland the night before to see their basketball team win big over Leesburg.

The triumph means Lakewood will be in the boys state 4A championship today. There were a few high fives in the studio and discussion about who would ride with whom to see the final game in Lakeland against Glades Central.

As they talked about the players they would interview on their 10-minute show, they got the bad news from an assistant principal, who had other programming ideas.

"He's demanding to go on for five minutes to talk about the FCAT," said Shanna DiNobile, 17, the sports producer.

"The FCAT?" sports anchor Adrienne Lufkin, 17, asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it starts next week," Shanna said.

Adrienne knew this. Everyone knows this. The importance of this statewide academic achievement test has been drilled into their heads so relentlessly they could, well, they could just gag.

"We only have one minute for sports?" Adrienne said. "They won. They're going to the final of the states."

She was whining. But there was resignation in her voice. This is high school. It is not a democracy. They made do with a minute.

It has been eight years since a Pinellas County boys basketball team has won a state championship. A victory would be particularly special for Lakewood High School -- a St. Petersburg school of 1,670 students on 54th Avenue S -- that has never won a boys basketball title.

And then there's the coach, Dan Wright, who has taken five teams to the final four in his 25 years as Lakewood's head coach, but never has won.

The students are familiar with this slice of Pinellas sports history and know the significance of a win. But they're also teenagers, preoccupied with things like sneaking noisemakers into the Lakeland Center -- totally against the rules -- and selling face tattoos for 50 cents each.

It was 6:50 a.m. on Friday, and Brandee Dorsey opened her front door with a smile.

"I'm still getting beautiful," she said, and laughed.

She had gotten up precisely 15 minutes before her friends were to arrive to pick her up for school. Brandee, a senior, is captain of the cheerleading squad, and was the homecoming queen.

Her cheerleading outfit was in a crumpled heap on the bed she had slept in. Her homecoming tiara sat crookedly on the lampshade next to her bed. She paused as she gathered up her backpack and jacket, and straightened the crown.

"I can't wait to get home and sleep," she said.

A car honked. It was her pals, waiting outside her house in Coquina Key. They drove to school, and when Brandee, 18, stepped into the courtyard at Lakewood, she made the assessment.

"There is definitely nobody here," she said as she scanned the faces in the courtyard.

It was not until third period that most of the basketball players showed up.

The hand-painted posters in the Lakewood courtyard went up Friday morning.

They said: "Go Spartans," and, "Bald is Better," a reference to the head-shaving that many on the team underwent in the name of unity.

Michelle McCloud and Sian Talley taped up the posters during the school's first lunch period. To look at the girls, you might think they would be unlikely friends. Michelle is student government president and has the engaging smile of a sorority sister. Sian is a self-described punk rocker who was captain of the swim team. She likes the Ramones and wears a rhinestone dog collar.

"That's all we've been doing today, putting up posters," said Michelle, 17, a senior.

"Oh, we did bring the spirit couch," said Sian, 18, also a senior.

They looked over at a couch in the school courtyard, which has been reupholstered with Lakewood High School sports team jerseys.

"Nobody can concentrate today," Sian said.

"And the two of us have a research paper to do," Michelle said.

"Which is not going to get done," Sian said.

They laughed.

Marcus Morrison was in their next class, which was library. He is a star player for Lakewood, and scored 18 points in Thursday's game.

"We got over the hill," he said. "But now it's time to go down the home stretch."

He clearly had given the big picture some thought. He noticed that some of the players from Boca Ciega, a rival St. Petersburg team that lost its semifinal game, were among the more than 4,000 people in the stands for the Thursday night game. Indian Rocks Christian also lost in the semifinals.

"I think," Marcus said carefully, "it will mean a lot, not only to St. Petersburg, but to Pinellas County."

There was a special moment in Lakewood's game Thursday night. It came with 5:16 left on the clock.

Lakewood was leading Leesburg 55 to 37 when sophomore guard Maurice Robinson got the ball near the top of the key. He lofted it toward the net and for a moment you might have thought, oh well, short.

But then you saw No. 23 closing on the basket like a predator at suppertime. Marcus Morrison snatched the ball at the apex of its gentle arc and stuffed it, hanging onto the hoop for a moment.

Marcus is known for his aerial feats around the rim, and the Lakewood fans roared as one. They were on their feet, flashing the "dynasty" sign that is unique to Lakewood -- fingertips together to form a pyramid.

While it was apparent that Lakewood was going to win, this was the moment in which the Lakewood fans showed that they believed. They stomped and thumped each other on the back. Mendee Ligon was pumping her arms for all she was worth.

When she is not wearing her gold and black T-shirt with her son's name emblazoned on it, she is a dentist. Her son is Brian Ligon, the starting center. Many of the boys on the team and their families are her patients.

She and husband, Reggie, also a dentist, are at every game. Her older daughter, now at Florida State University, was Lakewood's student government president. That is all to say that Mendee Ligon is, for all practical purposes, Mrs. Lakewood High. She watches out for all the boys on the team.

"All of them are my babies," she said. "All of them."

When they win today -- she refuses to use the word "if" -- it will be more than just another title for just another team. The school, which opened in 1966, doesn't usually get the kind of recognition that the bigger high schools in the county get, she said.

"Lakewood needs this," she said. "It will just be a real point of pride for us."

Getting there

Lakewood beat Leesburg 59-45 Thursday night, and goes on to play Glades Central this afternoon in the 4A basketball final. The game starts at 3:30 p.m. at the Lakeland Center.

To get to the Lakeland Center, take Interstate 4 east to exit 17 (Kathleen Road). Turn right on Kathleen and continue to Sikes Boulevard. Bear right at yield sign and turn right at second stoplight (Lime Street). Arena will be on right.

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