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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 28, 2003
BRANDON -- Brandon was at home in front of a full, screaming house, and yet it was visiting Kathleen that appeared more calm.
It wasn't that the Eagles were tripping all over themselves, but when they did get a few decent shots, they put up "bricks," as Brandon coach Mark Hermann called them.
"I think we were a little intimidated in the beginning," Hermann said. "I guess you could say we lost the game in the first quarter."
You could say that because Brandon, normally a high-scoring bunch, had only four first-quarter points and trailed by 10, which was two more than the 68-60 margin it ended up losing by. At halftime, the Eagles trailed 27-15 and were down 32-17 early in the third, seemingly not in the same league with Kathleen, which for much of the season was ranked in the state's top-five, and often No. 2.
"To (Brandon's) credit they battled back and I knew they would," Kathleen coach Drew Taylor said. "This was a region playoff game, of course they were going to fight back."
Brandon, largely behind the short jumpers of Zaronn Cann (game-high 22 points), cut the gap to 46-43 with five minutes to go, but Kathleen, as it did all night, quickly followed with a key shot, this time a 3-pointer.
"It seemed like they hit every key shot they had to hit," Hermann said. "We could never get over the hump."
Brandon ends its season 22-6.
-- SCOTT PURKS
WINTER HAVEN -- Winter Haven picked up its defense and grabbed the crucial rebounds to beat Armwood 68-55 in the region quarterfinals.
The Blue Devils trailed the Hawks 52-51 before putting together a 14-0 run that prompted Armwood coach Joe Morris to call time out.
The Blue Devils then made 4 of 4 free throws while keeping the ball away from Armwood (17-9) for the victory.
Overall, the Blue Devils were 19 of 25 from the free-throw line while Armwood was 6 of 9.
"It was their penetration and we didn't rebound enough," Morris said.
-- THE LEDGER
TAMPA -- Durant withstood a furious third-quarter comeback by King to advance to next week's regional semifinals with a 77-65 victory at the Lions' gym.
"We knew that we could pound the ball inside against them because they were small," Durant's R.L. Bond said. "That's what we focused on all week in practice."
The Cougars frontcourt dominated the undersized Lions. Durant outrebounded King 39-23 and reached the free-throw line 35 times, making 25, compared to the Lions' 4-of-7.
"The last couple of days we worked on getting the ball into the post," Durant coach Gary Jordan said. "We knew we could take advantage of our size against them."
-- BRANDON WRIGHT
HAINES CITY -- Chamberlain tried to run with Haines City, a strategy that didn't work so well.
Brandon Streeter led the Hornets with 30 points as his team simply ran the Chiefs off the court, 102-66.
Streeter set the tone for the Hornets in the first half when he made four of his six 3-pointers and scored 18. Haines City finished with 16 3-pointers and had five players in double figures.
The teams traded leads through the first quarter. Late in the quarter, Chamberlain (22-6) went up 14-12 and 16-15, but each time Streeter answered with a 3-pointer to put the Hornets up 18-16 at the end of the quarter.
Streeter sparked Haines City to start the second quarter with seven points in a 12-5 run as the Hornets began to pull away.
Haines City went on to score 26, 28 and 30 in the last three quarters.
"That's pretty darn good, and 18 (points in the first quarter) isn't too shabby either," Collins said.
Chamberlain was led by Grey Lee's 27 points.
-- THE LEDGER
TAMPA -- About four Jesuit baskets into the second half of Thursday's game, Pasco coach Willie "Poncho" Broner III turned around with sweat running down his face and yelled a prediction into the crowd: "They're about to take over. ... You watch, they're about to take it over."
He must have been talking about Jesuit. The Tigers all but owned the second half as they ran over Pasco in a 61-40 victory.
The Pirates (13-15) were ahead 24-22 at halftime as they shifted into a quick-paced offense made up of long jumpers and an in-your-face dunk. The attitudes switched places, though, as Jesuit (23-5) came out with a 15-point scoring run to start the third. "They (the Pirates) run in spurts," Jesuit guard Alan Schonbrun said. "We knew if they were down by 15, they could come back. But if we're down by 15, we know we can come back, too."
Jesuit tallied 17 steals and Ryan Smyth had three big blocks. With five minutes left, the Tigers took their sweet time on offense, while Pasco began to play its bench.
Schonbrun scored 25 points, making 83 percent of his attempts and pumping up his team in Jesuit's hot, muggy gym. Joe Donoho also shot with confidence, adding 15 points.
Johnny Peyton was Pasco's biggest threat, scoring 22 points and making three 3-pointers. Deran Burns scored 10. Broner later said it was "the whistles, the stripes" he was talking about when Jesuit got on a roll.
The Tigers will travel to Arcadia DeSoto County for the region quarterfinal.
-- EMILY NIPPS
WESLEY CHAPEL -- In a pinch, Wesley Chapel coach Kent Mills feels he can go to any of his seven seniors.
Against Tampa Catholic, he called on Tyrone Tomlin.
Tomlin answered with six points, all on layups, including a spectacular reverse, in an 11-3 run that broke a tie at 64 and led the Wildcats to a 79-73 win.
"We ran back-to-back (isolation plays) to Ty and it worked out," Mills said. "He's a senior; a big-time player who makes big-time shots."
Two-time district champion Wesley Chapel, a state semifinalist last season, plays a region semifinal Tuesday at Lemon Bay, a 37-25 winner over Sebring.
Tomlin, who finished with 16 points, was one of four Wesley Chapel seniors in double figures. Eric Sorensen, who had four 3-point shots, scored 19, David Simpson 13 and Zach Mills, the coach's son, 10.
"The seniors have played four years together," Kent Mills said. "It's fourth-quarter basketball. This is what it's all about."
The Wildcats (25-3) went on a 15-1 run after the Crusaders scored the game's first four points and their lead fluctuated between three and seven points. The Crusaders hung close and took a 56-52 lead on two straight 3-pointers by Anthony Messina with 1:59 left in the third quarter.
Travis LeMaster's only 3-point shot of the game restored Wesley Chapel's lead at 59-58 with 19 seconds left in the third, but Tampa Catholic took a 60-59 lead heading into the final quarter on two Ashley Thomas free throws.
Thomas went 8-for-8 from the line, all in the third quarter.
Tampa Catholic (12-18) tied it one last time, 64-64, on Keith Ewing's layup before Tomlin scored six of his team's next seven points off two passes from Zach Mills and another from Simpson.
Messina, who scored a game-high 31 points, hit two of his seven 3-pointers in the final 24 seconds.
-- STEVE LEE
TAMPA -- Derek Hatcher scored on a driving layup with six seconds left to move Berkeley Prep past Cardinal Mooney of Sarasota 61-60.
A desperation shot by the Cougars fell short as time expired.
Cardinal Mooney (18-11) went in having won nine of 10, losing only to St. Petersburg Catholic in the district championship game. Berkeley Prep (20-8) knew it was in for a tough night.
"Cardinal Mooney has jelled well as a team this past month, and they are really hitting their prime," Buccaneers coach Bobby Rinehart said before the game.
Berkeley Prep's scoring machine, junior guard Spiros Ferderigos, had 35 points and hit his seventh 3-pointer of the game to put his team up 57-54 with 2:07 left. A moment later he fouled out, leaving it up to the rest of a young team to hold the lead.
The teams battled back and forth until, with 14 seconds left, guard Scott Rattigan sank a driving layup to put the Cougars up 60-59. During the ensuing timeout, Rinehart told his players to get the ball inside.
"We had set up a play to get the ball down low so even if we missed, we'd have a chance at getting fouled," Rinehart said.
When Hatcher took the inbounds pass, he saw an opening, drove to the basket and laid it in.
"Sometimes the play that comes when the set play isn't there ends up being the better play. It sure did tonight," Rinehart said.
Cardinal Mooney guard Steve Young scored 27 and made five 3-pointers.
Ferderigos was confident when he fouled out that his teammates would hold the lead. "I knew our guys would come up big when they had to, and they did just that in those last two minutes," he said.
-- JIM REESE
ST. PETERSBURG -- Chad Radosevich led St. Petersburg Catholic with 30 points, including 25 points and seven 3-pointers in the first half, as the Barons crushed Tampa Prep 86-49.
Aaron Holmes added 24 points and Billy Tapp had 12 for the Barons. David Smith led Tampa Prep with 20 points and Karl Richards added 13.
St. Petersburg Catholic coach Mike Moran felt good about the win for more than the obvious reasons.
"Chad has rounded into a complete player as the season wore on," he said. "It's the best perimeter performance we've had all season and it came at the best time. That is exactly what has to happen again for us against Florida Air Academy. They are huge inside, 6-11, 6-5, so our perimeter guys have to play like they did tonight."
The 20-8 Barons will host undefeated Florida Air Academy on Tuesday. Tampa Prep finished 15-15.
-- STEVE FOLEY
WEST PALM BEACH -- Gaither headed south to Palm Beach Lakes for a regional opener for the second consecutive year and came away with a similar result, losing 73-49.
Last year the Cowboys scored 49 as well.
The Rams (26-2) were led by frontcourt players Marcus Hubbard (23 points) and Louis Graham (15 points), who proved too much for Gaither's outstanding backcourt tandem of Antonio Russell and Brandon Harrison, who combined for 26 points.
Gaither (18-14) appeared out of the game by halftime as it trailed 45-24, this despite Lakes committing 11 first-half turnovers and 28 for the game. Gaither, however, had 11 turnovers of its own.
-- PALM BEACH POST
LAKELAND -- It was the youth for All Saints, playing in its first regional playoff game, that came up huge to beat Tampa Baptist 41-36.
Tampa Baptist (13-14) trailed 24-20 at halftime and hung close all the way but never could hold the lead.
All Saints (22-7) was led by Caleb Canlon with 13 points along with freshman Josh Maynard, who had nine.
-- THE LEDGER