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Second-Quarter Field Goal Drought Dooms Pasco

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By BART O'CONNELL, Tribune correspondent

Published: February 21, 2008

EUSTIS - The thought of the second quarter didn't immediately bother Coach Poncho Broner after Pasco's 58-51 loss to Eustis.

Only after being told the Pirates failed to make a field goal in that period and only could muster five free throws did Broner identify it with the struggles that led to Pasco's elimination from the Class 4A-Region 2 tournament Tuesday.

Despite Pasco clearly being the better team in the third and fourth quarters, outscoring the Panthers 32-26, it was just not good enough to make up for those fateful eight minutes, where they were outscored 15-5.

"That was it. The lid was on, the lid was on," Broner said. "Just one of those things. It was on for them also, but with the offensive rebounds and the putbacks in there, it makes it look like it was not. We didn't do a good job of rebounding."

Down 13 at halftime, Broner was upset with the zone defense as well as the work on the boards, and called for some changes. Pasco switched to a man-to-man defense, wanting more pressure on the Panthers' post players, mainly star forward Kenny Dale.

The strategy worked, as Dale, Eustis' primary rebounder, was denied the ball in good position, and missed most of his putback attempts after halftime.

"I think we got away with a few of some of them calls that they got on us in the first half," Broner said. "We finally got a chance to put our hands on them, compared to putting their hands on us. I think that helped."

Meanwhile, Pirates guard Demetrious Larry, who had just one point in the first half, was making the most of his second-half opportunities. He made four of his first five shots in the third to return to his usual role as a primary scorer.

Larry led the comeback attempt offensively, finishing with 21 points, while T.J. Bryant added 18.

"He's been our man all year long," Broner said of Larry. "We go by him, him and Bryant, he got hot for us in the second half. He gave us a chance right there.

"I didn't see anybody quit. We all knew, we've been in that situation before against tough teams before. We knew we still had a run in us."

The deficit dropped to four points on three different occasions in the fourth quarter, but Pasco couldn't get any closer. And while Dale's one-handed dunk in the waning seconds was the play that essentially ended Pasco's season, the second quarter seemed to be the culprit.

"Coming in, we wanted them to beat us shooting. That was going to be the thing," Broner said. "All the scouting reports we had, they liked to get to the basket, get to the basket.

"I thought we did a good job of keeping them from the basket, and making them shoot the basketball. But we didn't do a good job of finishing with rebounding."

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

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