Tornadoes feel right at home in semifinals

This year's Clearwater High boys basketball team, while younger than last year's senior dominated squad, have gone further in the state playoffs, moving into the 5A final four.

CLEARWATER - Today, Clearwater High's boys basketball team is where many thought it would be last year: playing in the state semifinals with a chance to win its first championship since 1981.

Last season's squad won the Pinellas County Athletic Conference championship with four starting seniors and a standout junior point guard in Luke Postorino. There was a lot of talk. Maybe a little too much.

The Tornadoes were 24-2 going into the district tournament but lost in the semifinals to a team they had beaten twice and didn't even make the playoffs. The season was over. All but three players graduated.

Clearwater coach Jack Coit doesn't like to talk about last year and what the Tornadoes didn't do. Not when he's got a young team this season that has made its way to the state final four without the same kind of stress of last season.

"They haven't put any pressure on themselves," Coit said. "The expectations weren't there this season like they were last year. From Day 1 of the season, last year's team had the pressure of: "You guys should go to state."'

What could have been a depleted team in rebuild-mode has proven to be anything but. Clearwater (28-2), ranked third in the state sportswriters poll, plays Winter Park Lake Howell (26-4) tonight at the Lakeland Center. If the Tornadoes win, they will play the winner of today's Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer-Eagle Lake Lake Region game on Friday for the Class 5A title.

With 10 seniors on last season's team, Coit had the luxury of keeping a strong class of sophomores together on junior varsity. The junior varsity, which went undefeated the past two seasons, has moved up in the form of seven juniors. The group is tight, spending their springs, summers and falls playing together. Many of the juniors play on the same AAU Clearwater Heatwave team.

"We tried to keep them together on JV for the kids to really develop as a team," Coit said.

Many of the juniors have been playing together since middle school. Darius Hart began this season as a solid off-guard, point guard in training. Cruz Daniels has become a thriving force in the middle, especially on defense where at 6-foot-10 he positions himself for rebounding and shot blocking. Trevor Lee has been a reliable reserve offering help on the inside.

"I'm glad I'm with this group of guys," Lee said. "They're my friends off the court and they'll always be my friends."

Last spring the junior class started working with the rest of the team, which included seniors Postorino, the lone returning starter; Jon Thomas, who averaged about eight minutes a game; and was later joined by Benny Clyde, a transfer from Admiral Farragut. They played in men's leagues at Joe DiMaggio and Greenwood recreation centers in the offseason.

"As soon as we started playing together I knew we were going to be good," Postorino said.

Just as expectations were starting to build and the Tornadoes were proving to be one of the best in the state, they lost Postorino to a torn ACL early last month. The injury appeared to be season-ending.

Hart took over as point guard with the confidence of a veteran. He scored 25 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer in Clearwater's region final game against Fort Myers. Daniels has remained a presence inside and Lee became a starter who is more productive offensively. The Tornadoes won their district tournament to advance to the playoffs, giving Postorino time to come back.

Postorino is not the force he once was. He comes off the bench wearing a knee brace and faces surgery at season's end. But he remains the leader on the court. Coit said if there was one player he could have back from last season's team, it's Postorino.

"The confidence he has in himself carries over to the other kids," Coit said. "That is the most important thing."

It's the kind of leadership Postorino is trying to share with his younger, less experienced teammates.

"These guys may say they always have next year," Postorino said, "but that's what I've got to make them realize. This year you have to do it. You never know what's going to happen next year. You have an opportunity, you've got to make it happen."

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