Newspaper clippings provided inspiration for the Crusaders, who withstood a comeback to upset Jesuit 51-48 Friday.
By BRANDON WRIGHT
Published February 7, 2004
TAMPA - Tampa Catholic coach Don Dziagwa pinned newspaper clippings of past meetings with Jesuit on the bulletin board before the Crusaders' game with the Tigers to remind his players about the storied rivalry between the schools.
Dziagwa hoped that would erase the memory of a 17-point loss earlier in the season to the Tigers and, in turn, inspire the Crusaders.
The strategy worked.
The Crusaders withstood a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Tigers and Ashley Thomas hit a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining in overtime as Tampa Catholic upset visiting Jesuit 51-48 on Friday.
"This is the best rivalry at the high school level in Hillsborough County," Dziagwa said. "We looked really good for the first three quarters and I'm just happy we were able to pull it out at the end."
Tampa Catholic (5-17) built a 13-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended it to 26-17 by halftime. The Tigers (9-13) went on a 10-3 run in the third quarter to cut the lead to four, but a pair of late 3s by Matt Dziagwa and a Scott Wallace layup at the buzzer gave the Crusaders a 38-29 lead through three.
Two free throws from Thomas to start the quarter opened up an 11-point advantage that appeared to put Tampa Catholic comfortably ahead. But after three quarters of man-to-man defense, Dziagwa saw his team start to hit the wall.
"What you saw was their legs start to get a little tired," Dziagwa said. "But I didn't want to switch out of man-to-man when we had the lead. I just hoped we had enough left."
But the Tigers took advantage of the Crusaders' fatigue, ripping off a 12-2 run to pull within 42-41. During the stretch, the Crusaders went more than four minutes without scoring. A Thomas runner pushed the lead back to 44-41, but Jesuit's Patrick Rice was fouled on a driving layup and converted the free throw with 1:22 remaining in regulation to tie it at 44.
Rice then hit the opening basket of overtime to give the Tigers their first lead since 5-4. But with Jesuit leading 48-47, the Tigers' Andrew Dorst missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12.5 seconds left as Thomas was fouled while grabbing the rebound. The sophomore guard hit both free throws to put the Crusaders ahead for good and Joey Lauteria stripped Jesuit's Tyler Sterns with three seconds left to seal the victory.
