TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Lecanto nears century mark vs. Central

ADVERTISEMENT

By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Published: November 26, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - As the end neared Tuesday night in the Central High gym, only two questions remained.

Did the scoreboard have space for a third digit - and would visiting Lecanto High test it before the running clock ran out.

As it turned out, the Panthers fell just short of the century mark in this season-opening contest for both clubs. They still ran away with it, literally, employing a high-octane, up-tempo attack in a 97-62 victory.

"Basically the problem is we played their style of game," second-year Central Head Coach Eric Hayes said. "They want to get up and down the court, shoot the ball quickly. That's not our style.

"...Their dribble penetration hurt us a lot. We didn't do a good job stopping their dribble penetration. When we did step up to stop them, they made a good pass or made the shot up the middle. You can tell they've been playing together for a while."

Last year brothers Nick and Victor Cortes led Lecanto to the regional final. The backcourt duo combined for 55 points on this night.

Nick Cortes tallied a game-high 35 points, hitting on five three-pointers, four in the third quarter when the Panthers blew it open.

He added six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Victor Cortes scored 20 points with four assists and four steals. Elijah Bradley contributed 19 points and 11 rebounds.

"Our defense, our press caused them to turn the ball over," Lecanto Head Coach Chris Nichols said. "Once we got the turnovers we turned them into something. Obviously Nicky, Victor and Elijah had outstanding ballgames.

"That's the way we play. We press and push the ball. We want to play fast, that's the way we like to play. That's the way we play night in and night out."

Behind the strong play of its big three, who combined for 28 the team's 33 second-quarter points, Lecanto opened up a 41-21 lead with 2:30 left in the first half on a three-pointer by Nick Cortes.
Darryn Frazier and Michael Barnes led a 10-3 run over the next minute that pulled Central within 44-31.

However a technical foul called against the Bears seemed to rob them of some momentum, and Lecanto took a 48-33 lead into the intermission.

The third quarter turned into a long-range shooting clinic by Nick Cortes. At one point the 5-foot-9 junior pulled up several feet beyond the three-point line and banked it in, making it 58-35.

Two minutes later, Cortes stole the ball and knocked down another trey to push the advantage to 30, 69-39.

With 2:25 left in the fourth quarter, after both teams had pulled most of their primary players, Mike Kelly hit a pair of free throws to provide Lecanto with a 35-point edge, 97-62, and enforce a running clock.

Frazier, the county's leading scorer last year (19.2 points per game) as a sophomore transfer from Alaska, scored 23 points to go along with nine rebounds.

The sophomore Barnes added 18 points and Greg Rodriguez 11 off the bench.

"I thought the Frazier kid, he's a good player, he really did an outstanding job," Nichols said. "I don't think we did a very good job of guarding him.

"Coach Hayes is coaching his tail off. They're doing good things. Give him four years and see what happens. I think they're headed on the right track."

The Bears showed marked improvement in their first season under Hayes, but still finished 2-22. The coach seemed to understand the growing pains his program must yet endure.

"As a team we'll get better," Hayes said. "We'll take care of the basketball better. Overall we'll play better on offense.

"I can't say I'm disappointed but I will say yes, I expected a better showing. I didn't expect to lose by 30. I told them, they're going to press us. They'll beat us by 30 if we allow them to.

"We're waiting for the game when the belief in ourselves shows itself. As soon as that happens, I think our season will really take off."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT