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Panthers Get Back At Tigers In Final

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By NICK WILLIAMS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

Updated:

TAMPA - Plant, ranked No. 9 in the state poll, beat Middleton 71-61 in the Class 5A-District 10 final Saturday to win the program's first boys basketball championship since 2002.

The Panthers advance to the 5A region tournament and will host Clearwater, ranked No. 7 in the state, in the quarterfinals Thursday at 7 p.m. Middleton will travel to fifth-ranked Pinellas Park.

"A lot of it was taking care of business from last year," Plant coach Mike Phillips said.

Last season, Plant entered the district tournament with the best record in Hillsborough County (22-1) and was ranked in the state poll.

During the semifinals, however, the top-seeded Panthers were upset by fifth-seeded Middleton, which went on to win the district title.

Junior guard Sheldon Cooley led the Panthers (24-4) with 28 points and 11 rebounds, while senior forward Chandler Flom added 22 points before fouling out.

"It feels great," Cooley said. "We got the chance to beat Middleton. This is what we wanted."

Plant led by 17 points going into the fourth quarter, but Middleton went on a 12-2 run to close the deficit to 59-51 with 3:50 remaining. During Middleton's run, Plant went scoreless for more than four minutes, and Flom fouled out.

"I knew we were going to come out of it," Flom said. "We needed to control the ball and run out the clock. Now we have to prepare for Clearwater."

Senior guard Khiry Anfield led the Tigers (18-9) with 19 points and nine rebounds, while senior Alphonso Sheppard added 15.

Anfield closed the gap to 66-58 with 1:21 left on a jump shot, but Cooley made two free throws and scored on a layup to give Plant some breathing room.

"We had to keep them off the boards and just play within ourselves, not try to do so much," Cooley said.

"They knew they had to do the little things, the right things," Phillips said.

Reporter Nick Williams can be reached at (813) 865-4848 or nwilliams@tampatrib.com.

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