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Plant Advances Past Clearwater In OT

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By NICK WILLIAMS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 15, 2008

TAMPA - Normally, a postseason matchup between two state-ranked teams occurs during the state tournament, when the best teams are left standing. On Thursday night, however, No. 7 ranked Plant hosted No. 9 Clearwater in the Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinals for a meeting of two of the top teams in the Bay area.

The matchup certainly lived up to its billing, as Plant defeated the Tornadoes 59-52 in overtime to advance to the region semifinals, where it will play Pinellas Park Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pinellas Park defeated Middleton, 59-44, to advance.

Plant junior Sheldon Cooley scored a game-high 26 points, including eight in overtime, to lead the Panthers (25-4). Plant trailed 44-36 with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but a 3-pointer by senior forward Chandler Flom and two buckets by Cooley helped close the gap to 45-44. Cooley made one of two free throws with 44 seconds left to tie the game and neither team was able to score for the remainder of regulation.

In overtime, however, Clearwater (22-5) was without Florida State-bound guard Luke Loucks, Delaware-bound forward Adam Pegg and 6-foot-6 sophomore Okaro White, who all fouled out in regulation. Loucks fouled out with 11 points with 6:53 remaining after receiving a technical from a referee for arguing a call.

"Regardless of the refs, we played a poor game all the way around," Loucks said.

With no one able to score or defend for the Tornadoes, the Panthers took advantage by isolating Cooley and Flom.

"We said to them, get the ball in Sheldon or Chandler's hands," Plant coach Mike Phillips said.

"I took over the game, I felt very confident and my teammates had depended on me," Cooley said. "Chandler and Mychal Givens really stepped up."

Flom finished with 16 points, while Givens added 10.

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

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