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Preps

Wildcats rain 3's

HUDSON -- This just in: Wesley Chapel is still, well, Wesley Chapel.

Last season's Class 3A state semifinalist proved Thursday night to be every bit as dangerous on offense, on defense and off the bench as it was a year ago. Just ask Hudson. The Cobras fell 93-57 to the relentless Wildcats.

Both teams entered this early-season meeting 1-0, and both were coming off great preseason starts. Fortunately for the Cobras, this was a non-district, Sunshine Athletic Conference game that doesn't affect their postseason hopes.

Hudson was also fortunate that Wesley Chapel isn't even playing its best ball yet.

"We've played good," Wildcats coach Kent Mills said. "But nowhere near great, nowhere near perfection, nowhere near anything."

Yet Wesley Chapel enjoyed a double-digit lead from the second quarter on, then hit high gear thanks to an endless pressure defense that forced 34 turnovers and a torrential perimeter offense that dropped 14 3-pointers. Wesley Chapel is off to a 2-0 start and has outscored its opponents by a combined 61 points.

But it wasn't the final score that caught Mills' eye Thursday.

"It's the same thing from the two classic games to these two games, it's just the intensity that I've seen out of all of them," he said. "They're taking the game, taking the court, every night to play."

Hudson was down just 22-13 in the first quarter before the Wildcats' 3-pointer-happy offense took off. David Simpson's two free throws with 6:28 left in the second quarter gave the 'Cats a 10-point lead, and 27 seconds later, Zach Mills buried the first of his six first-half 3-pointers to pad the lead to 17.

Travis LeMasters' 3-pointer made the lead 20 with 5.3 seconds left in the third quarter. The lead hit 29 with 50 seconds left in the third when Eric Sorensen got hot, sinking one of his six 3-pointers. Mills and Sorensen led Wesley Chapel with 26 points apiece, and Simpson chipped in 20, scoring 10 in the third alone.

Hudson point guard Mo Maisonet led Hudson with 13. Josh Bunting and Mark Baker had 10 apiece.

"They're a class act," Cobras coach Steve Casel said of the Wildcats. "They're good. Everybody knows they're good. You've got to hope when they shoot the 3-ball you have a chance to rebound it if they miss.

"But if they're on ... they're tough."

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