Boys A hoops: Seffner Christian gets late lift from Paularine

By Sean Fitzgerald, Times correspondent
Published February 20, 2008

TAMPA - Seffner Christian leading scorer Devin Paularine was held to two points the first 30 minutes against Bayshore Christian. He would make his presence felt in the waning minutes.

With two minutes remaining in a tie game, Paularine connected on a deep 3-pointer, putting Seffner (18-12) ahead for good. Paularine scored eight in the last two minutes of the Crusaders' 64-58 victory.

"I struggled mentally," Paularine said. "But my team lifted me up and played great. Luckily I was able to stay calm at the end."

Seffner held a nine-point halftime lead, but Bayshore (19-9) tied it with less than three minutes to play. Bayshore's Fred Lewis scored 18 of his game-high 20 in the second half.

Seffner's clutch free-throw shooting was the difference as the Crusaders made 18 of 20 from the line. Steven Cunningham's free throws put Seffner up by four with 40 seconds remaining.

"Bayshore was scrappy and made runs," Seffner coach Roger Duncan said. "But it was our free-throw shooting that made the difference."

Four Seffner players scored in double figures. Jameson Self led the Crusaders with 13 points, followed by Cunningham with 12.

Sean Fitzgerald, Times correspondent

[Last modified February 19, 2008, 23:01:55]