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Ridgewood Tops Gainesville By 6

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 29, 2007

Updated: 12/29/2007 12:22 am

TAMPA - Ridgewood's purpose behind playing in three holiday tournaments was to get away from blowout victories that don't offer much in the way of learning, and it has been mission accomplished through three games at the Tampa Hoops Classic at the University of South Florida.

The Rams (10-2) had a 15-point lead on Gainesville in the first quarter Friday, but by the fourth quarter that lead had dwindled to one.

Some clutch baskets in the final minutes gave Ridgewood a 70-64 win.

"We've been close," Ridgewood coach Gary Anders said. "I hope that after this game we realize we can finish a ballgame instead of just making a decision that we were close for 3 1/2 quarters or we did good for 3 1/2 quarters and that's good enough. And against a quality team like that, it's huge."

The Rams had held the Purple Hurricanes at bay with around a 10-point cushion for much of the game, but a 6-0 Gainesville run at the start of the fourth cut the lead to one.

Bryan Jones, Alvin Satram, Mike Lawrence and Derrick Zio all had late buckets to push the Rams ahead, and Lawrence added two late free throws to give Ridgewood a four-point lead with less than a minute to go in the game.

Lawrence and Lukas Poderis had 13 points each.

The Rams face Plantation American Heritage at 4:30 p.m. today at Jefferson High to decide fifth place.

Earlier Friday, Plant squared off with Wharton (5-12) in a game that had the two knotted up for most of the second half until the Panthers pulled away for the 50-43 win.

"I'm real pleased at what we're getting out of this tournament," Plant coach Mike Phillips said.

Sheldon Cooley led the Panthers (13-2) with 14 points. Today they play at 1 p.m at Jefferson for the consolation championship.
Tarpon Springs Shocks Blake With 17-0 Run

TAMPA - Perhaps the most unlikely four minutes of Hillsborough County girls basketball this season occurred Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Craig Keeler Memorial Christmas Tournament.

The game featured Blake and Tarpon Springs, with the Spongers coming out on top in the crazy turn of events: Trailing by 13 with a little more than four minutes to go, Tarpon Springs went on a 17-0 run to the end game and take the victory 45-41.

"We turned it up," Tarpon Springs coach Dennis Mentall said. "Did we ever."

Blake coach Calvin Barrs said, "We collapsed."

Barrs pointed to the fact his two top players, point guard Ashley Gary and forward Chanele Patton, fouled out with about three minutes remaining.

Mentall said the key was applying "kamikaze" pressure, coupled with the breakout of one of his top players, Ali Corbett, who scored 12 of her 14 points in the final four minutes. It was Corbett, in fact, that gave Tarpon Springs its first lead of the night, 42-41, when she sank two foul shots with 40 seconds remaining.

"It was like we finally woke up," Mentall said.

It was enough to put Tarpon Springs (8-8) in today's 8 p.m. semifinal against tourney host Tampa Catholic, which beat Robinson 67-18.

Should TC (12-3) win tonight it would play in Monday's championship against Armwood or Spruce Creek. Armwood beat Jefferson 45-35 and Spruce Creek beat Dunedin 42-37.

Scott Purks

Keyword: Sports, for coverage of the Alonso boys soccer team winning the Ridgewood Winter Tournament.

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