Boys basketball: Unbeaten Pinellas Park starts fast, overpowers Largo

By COREY LONG, Times Correspondent
Published December 19, 2007

LARGO - Jake Troyli scored 27 and Jesse Woods added 18 Tuesday as Pinellas Park remained undefeated with an impressive 81-48 road win over Largo.

The Patriots used a 13-0 run in the first quarter to take a 19-5 lead and never looked back. Largo trailed 21-8 after one quarter and never got closer than 12 before the Patriots broke things open late in the first half. The game went to a running clock midway through the fourth quarter.

Pinellas Park punished the smaller Largo team on the inside early as Troyli and Woods combined to score the first 12 points for the Patriots (10-0).

"Our goal was to get inside early, and that's the way we want to play every game," coach Allen Carden said. "With Jake and Jesse playing as well as they were, it was important to feed them the ball and let the offense work through them."

The outside game opened up as Cam Carden (15 points) and Cory Carden (12) enjoyed open looks at the basket and hit three 3-pointers apiece.

Cam Carden also led the team with 10 assists despite playing with a sore throat.

"We weren't sure if Cam was going to be able to go because he's had strep throat," Allen Carden said. "But once he got out there and felt the intensity of the ballgame, he was fine."

Largo (6-3) was unable to compete with Pinellas Park's aggressive style. Kyle Harter led the Packers with 13 points and Oliver Smith chipped in 10 off the bench.

Pinellas Park will host Northeast on Friday while Largo will head to a holiday tournament in Naples starting Thursday.

[Last modified December 19, 2007, 00:34:02]