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Preps
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 15, 2003
WESLEY CHAPEL -- An Pasco squad showed up for Tuesday night's Class 3A, District 10 rematch with Wesley Chapel, a better team than the one that lost an early-season matchup with the Wildcats by 27 points.
Unfortunately for the Pirates (5-8, 2-2), the Wildcats were much better this time around, too.
After three hotly contested quarters, Wesley Chapel ran away from Pasco in the fourth for a 70-49 victory.
The loss was the Pirates' first of 2003, and Wildcats coach Kent Mills said the difference between the squad he saw in mid-December and the one he saw Tuesday was apparent from the opening tipoff.
"Absolutely," he said. "(Pasco coach Willie "Poncho" Broner III) said his team was undefeated in 2003 and there's a reason why. I told our guys before this game, 'Fellas, we don't even need to watch the film from the first game,' because they're a completely different team now."
Watching that game was like fast-forwarding through a DVD, as Pasco County's fastest teams traded play after hustling play.
Tuesday night, Wesley Chapel (12-1, 4-0) lost 3-point ace Eric Sorensen in the first half after he rolled his right ankle. The Wildcats led 34-27 at halftime and for most of the game, but Wesley Chapel played like the lead could disappear any second.
Pasco kept the lead within sight for much of the third but could never get any closer than six points. Johnny Peyton scored six in the third and Jimmy Lyman's 3-pointer with eight seconds left in the quarter cut the lead to 50-44.
In the fourth, Wesley Chapel put together one of its patented runs, outscoring Pasco 20-3. The Wildcats' swarming transition defense forced turnover after turnover, while Tyrone Tomlin scored six of his 18 points and added two steals.
Already guarding an 11-point lead, Tomlin sank a leaping 9-foot jumper, then stole the ball on the next possession and was tripped. He sank two at the line to bump the lead up to 15 and then stole the ball again.
The Wildcats more than justified their climb in the Class 3A poll to No. 4 and the program's first first-place vote, and solidified their hold on the district's top seed.
Foul trouble on both sides of the ball did Pasco in. The Pirates entered the fourth in foul trouble (they finished with 26 total) and shot 7-of-23 from the free-throw line. In the fourth, Pasco went 1-of-6 at the line and sank just one basket.
David Simpson added 12 points and Zach Mills 15 for Wesley Chapel. Peyton and Lyman had 12 apiece for Pasco.
Broner said his team's mental mistakes in the fourth erased those well-played first three quarters.
"Our minds started to see things that weren't really there," he said. "We played great for 24 minutes, but we needed to play for 32 minutes. We need to play the full 32 next time."