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Cullop, Saint Leo Upset Tampa

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By BART O'CONNELL, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 14, 2008

ST. LEO - Until Wednesday, Tampa's big, physical frontcourt has been bulldozing through the Sunshine State Conference. A 6-foot-1 point guard from Saint Leo, however, found a way to change that.

Sophomore Quentin Cullop, held to three points in the first meeting with the Spartans, had 22 on Wednesday, leading the Lions (11-11, 4-7 Sunshine State Conference) past the nationally ranked Spartans 83-79.

"I've been counting on him to be a scorer for us, and he loves to set people up," Saint Leo coach Mike Madagan said, "but he sometimes needs to be an initiator of offense. Doing that early changes how people guard you."

Cullop had 11 points in the first 10 minutes, as the Lions built a six-point lead on the No. 1-ranked team in the Division II South Region, and No. 13 team nationally. From there, SLU led by as many as 13 in the first half, only to see the lead shrink to one after a 12-0 run by UT (16-5, 9-3). It would have been 15-0 if not for a successful three-quarter-court shot by Chris King that left his hands a fraction of a second after the buzzer.

While it was a one-possession game for most of the second half, which included 10 lead changes, UT coach Richard Schmidt felt his squad was playing behind throughout.

Despite double-doubles by forwards Jeremy Black (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Chris Evans (16 points, 12 rebounds), the Spartans shot just 38 percent from the field and 55 percent from the line.

"They played better together, and we didn't make any free throws," Schmidt said. "We had a bad shooting night, and they hung in and made big shots when they had to."

Many of the Saint Leo players were inspired by a pregame speech from Madagan, which Cullop described as "a lot of fire." In it, Madagan stressed being more intense at the outset. Jordan Prais, who also responded to the speech, had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

"We came out and gave them the first punch," Cullop said. "I think everybody tonight came in with a different focus."

LIONS WOMEN WIN: Melissa Guerero hit an off-balance jumper just inside the 3-point line with 3.7 seconds left in overtime, giving the Saint Leo women (11-11, 4-7) a 75-73 win that snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Spartans (17-5, 9-3).

Down 16 with 11:45 to play in regulation, the Lions went on a 20-1 second-half run, holding UT without a field goal for more than eight minutes. Guerero (22 points) and Nichole Tyler (game-high 27) sparked the rally, with Tyler hitting six of eight 3-pointers.

"We always start slow, so it wasn't like we didn't know how to come back," Guerero said. "I just felt like before the run started it was time for us to go; it was time for us to put points on the board."

Senior Sheena Walton led the Spartans with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com.

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