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Plant's defense proves decisive in 54-41 victory over Port Charlotte

By FRANK PASTOR

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

PORT CHARLOTTE -- There are seven blocks on Tyler Azzarelli's practice shoes. Six ring the outside of the shoes. A seventh, a larger block, is in the middle.

On it, Azzarelli wrote, "The White House," his name for the Lakeland Center, site of the state championship game.

Since the start of the district playoffs, Azzarelli has marked x's through the boxes following each of Plant's playoff victories.

"We've got two more left," he said.

Plant moved to within two wins of its first state title in more than 40 years with a 54-41 victory in the Class 5A, Region 3 final Saturday at Port Charlotte.

Azzarelli scored a team-high 16 points, and Plant limited Port Charlotte to three third-quarter points as the Panthers won their first regional championship since 1958.

Plant (27-4) will play Belleview (28-5), which defeated Leesburg 53-46, in the state semifinals Wednesday at the Lakeland Center. The time of the game has not been determined.

"We had a goal of getting there this year and winning it next year," Plant coach Mike Phillips said.

Plant started the season at the Florida Southern camp in Lakeland. There, former Mocs coach Gordon Gibbons helped the Panthers install their half-court, man-to-man defense.

Appropriately, that defense made it possible for Plant to return to Lakeland to finish the season.

One game after holding Countryside to 39 points, Plant came within a foul shot of limiting a second playoff opponent to less than than 40 points.

"Our defense," Phillips said. "That's what it came down to."

Wanting to keep power forward Mike Williams out of foul trouble, Phillips put Adam Bishop and Brad Birrenkott on Port Charlotte center Tony Hargrove.

With Williams adding backside help and Plant's guards collapsing on Hargrove, the Panthers held the 6-foot-4 Georgia Tech football recruit to five points, 11 below his average.

Plant took control in the second quarter, scoring the first nine points to take a 20-8 lead. Port Charlotte answered with a 9-2 run, but Plant closed the quarter with a 6-0 burst that put it ahead 28-17.

The Panthers outscored the Pirates 13-3 in the third quarter to build a 21-point lead, their biggest of the game. Port Charlotte got as close as 12 on Karl Butigian's three-pointer with 30 seconds left, but it was not enough to overtake Plant.

With 40.9 seconds left, Azzarelli and Williams embraced at midcourt. With 28 seconds to go, Port Charlotte's fans started to file out of the stands.

By the time Azzarelli was taken out of the game with 12 seconds remaining, about 300 Plant fans in attendance had worked themselves into a frenzy.

Azzarelli was one of eight Plant players who scored. Williams grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds. Butigian's 20 points led all scorers.

"I'm on a high right now," Azzarelli said. "This has been a goal all year."

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