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Larry, Bryant Are Propelling Pasco

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 25, 2008

DADE CITY - The keys to Pasco's success haven't been much of a secret, yet they still have been difficult to slow down.

The 15-6 team secured the No. 2 seed this week with a 65-58 win over Hudson. And like in almost every game this season, the biggest stars on the court were Pasco seniors Demetrious Larry and T.J. Bryant.

The two, who have been playing together since sixth grade, are the highest-scoring pair of teammates in the county, with Larry's 18.6 points and Bryant's 17.3 points per game.

Wesley Chapel's Greg Jenkins and Ladarius Manora are second, averaging 17.4 and 17.1 points per game, respectively.

"They can both go inside and outside, but I think the difference is Demetrious is right-handed and T.J. is left-handed," Pasco coach Poncho Broner said. "Both of them rebound well, both of them jump pretty well. Demetrious shoots a little more than T.J. does."

Both are 6-foot-3, though Bryant is slightly thicker in build, and they have a similar style of play. That makes it easier for them to find each other on the court.

"When we're driving, I can take it or kick it to him and he'll take it or throw it back out," Larry said.

This season, Bryant's best game came against the No. 1 seed in the district, Springstead. He had 37 points and was 14-15 from the free throw line.

Larry's highest-scoring game of the season also was against Springstead, in the first meeting between the teams. He had 29 points, including four 3-pointers.

Larry also reached 1,000 career points about halfway through the season.

Both of the Springstead games were losses. Pasco only had three losses in district play. The other came on Jan. 10, against to Zephyrhills.

"They're pretty steady throughout the course of the game, but when it comes down to crunch time we're looking for one of those two," Broner said.

Their consistency has been especially important for the Pirates this season because they lost their usual No. 3 scorer, Zach Caparaso, to a broken ankle six games into the season. He might be able to return if Pasco makes a deep postseason run.

Pasco expected to be a high-scoring team that didn't need defense to win games, but that changed when the Pirates no longer had Caparaso.

"We were still staying at it when we were missing his 12, 14 points, and if we couldn't get those 12, 14 points from other people, we had to try to take 12 or 14 off the opponent and so the defense is hopefully picking up," Broner said.

The defense has improved the most, according to Bryant, and he says it has been the Pirates' strength late in the season.

"In the beginning, it was kind of rough because we weren't playing any defense. But as the season went on, we got stronger and stronger," Bryant said. "Everybody has each other's back. Everybody is where they are supposed to be at."

On offense, 5-9 junior Jobie Elliot (8.2 ppg) and 6-foot senior Sinclair Davis (4.4) have helped supplement Bryant and Larry, though having almost 35 points a night guaranteed has been the Pirates' biggest blessing.

"Those two have been the cornerstones," Broner said. "We go how they go. If it's a tough night for them, it's going to be a tough night for us. I think everybody knows that. We know that"

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