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Canterbury Gives Coach 100th Win

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By RICK HARMON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

TAMPA - As soon as the final buzzer sounded, Canterbury fans screamed with joy. Not over the Crusaders' 67-45 Class 1A-District 11 boys basketball semifinal win against Academy at the Lakes. And not because top-seeded Canterbury earned its first regional appearance since 2001.

The screams were for Crusaders coach Dave Smith, who earned his 100th victory at Canterbury. The fans met Smith on the Citrus Park Christian floor with balloons and signs to honor him.

Canterbury (13-7) will face host Citrus Park Christian on Saturday in the district final. No. 2-seed Citrus Park (6-15) defeated No. 3 Lakeside Christian 54-51 in Tuesday's first game. The Eagles qualified for regionals for the first time in school history.

Canterbury jumped to a 23-11 first-quarter lead, and the Wildcats (5-15) could never catch up.

"We like to use our trap early in the game to get us moving," Smith said. "I've got the kind of team that if we're standing around, we're not playing very well, so we like to use our little trap to get moving."

Brandon Hamilton led the Crusaders with 20 points, and Adam Graves and Dominique Thornton added 15 each. Matt Grossenbach led the Wildcats with 20 points. The game was the first district tournament game in Academy's history.

"Congratulations, Coach," Academy at the Lakes coach Roderic Brame told Smith after the game. "You have 100 wins and I have five."

It as the third time the Wildcats had lost to Canterbury. The first two were by a total of 74 points. But it didn't stop Academy at the Lakes from being aggressive.

"We beat them pretty good twice in the regular season," Smith said. "Those kids worked their tails off. They got almost every loose ball. I give their coaches a lot of credit."
Citrus Park coach Juan Rivera was all smiles after the Eagles' win. Rivera took over as coach in November with the Eagles winless. They finished with six wins and were the second seed in the district.

Brandon Hagarty led Citrus Park with 23 points and Pierre Komandur added 17. Daniel Henry was the top scorer for Lakeside with 16 points, while Jon Eaton had 13 and Sam Swan 12.

Reporter Rick Harmon can be reached at (813) 259-7341 or rharmon@tampatrib.com.

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