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Lakeland Eliminates Sickles In 6A Region

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A Tribune staff report

Published: February 25, 2009

LAKELAND - As time expired, Sickles senior center John Henson looked to the scoreboard with a frown on his face.

The highly-recruited, 6-foot-11 McDonald's All-American walked off the court, weaving his way through dozens of Lakeland students and players rejoicing in a 48-43 upset against his visiting fifth-ranked Gryphons on Tuesday.

"My high school career is over," Henson said. "It's not a good feeling right now."

Led by senior Quinton Everett's 18 points, timely rebounding and a resiliency that Sickles hasn't seen all year, the sixth-ranked Dreadnaughts (24-3) advanced to Saturday's region final, where it will host top-ranked Orlando Olympia.

"Those loose-ball plays, it seemed like Lakeland got every one of them," Sickles coach Renaldo Garcia said. "We obviously wanted to go further, but so did Lakeland."

A 3-pointer from junior guard Jordan Davis with 1:33 remaining in the fourth quarter put Sickles within reach, 44-43, but with less than a minute left to play, the Gryphons took a quick 3-point attempt and were forced to foul, allowing the Dreadnaughts to seal the game at the free-throw line.

Sickles (24-5) took a 38-37 lead with 3:45 left in the quarter, its first lead since the second quarter, and the teams traded baskets until Lakeland junior Quayshawn Nelly converted a 3-point play to give his team a 44-40 edge.

Henson and Davis led Sickles with nine points each, while Henson added 13 blocks and seven rebounds.

Nick Williams

King Downs Ridgewood

TAMPA - King's first half against Ridgewood in Tuesday's 5A-Region 2 semifinal looked sloppy. The Lions' leading scorer Toarlyn Fitzpatrick was held scoreless. However, King was a different team in the second half, defeating Ridgewood, 44-37.

"We didn't play very good defense in the first half," Lions coach Sam Lanier said. "In the second half, we talked about working harder and not allowing them to get into the rhythm they had in the first half."

Fitzpatrick scored only four points, but the senior was solid on defense and had eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The Lions were led in scoring by Chauncey Day with 12 points and Rethell Oliver with 11, but they were also aided by Adrian Frederick, who scored nine in the second half.

For Ridgewood, which only managed 13 second-half points, the Rams were led in scoring by Jacob Rauh.

The Rams also saw tremendous play out of Alvin Satram, who may have had the toughest matchup, against Oliver.

Jarrett Guthrie

Clearwater Rips Hillsborough

TAMPA - Clearwater bent but never broke in a 72-59 win over host Hillsborough on Tuesday.

The Tornadoes (26-3) jumped out to a 16-3 lead in the Class 5A region semifinals, allowing only one field goal to the Terriers (21-9) during the first quarter. Clearwater then allowed Hillsborough back into the game several times, but kept responding with 3-pointers. The Terriers cut the Clearwater lead to four points during the third and fourth quarters, but Regan O'Rourke and Cory Carden hit key 3-pointers to keep the Terriers at bay.

The Tornadoes jumped out to their big lead behind big man Okaro White, who scored nine of Clearwater's 16 first-quarter points and used his long arms to keep Hillsborough shooting from the outside.

The Terriers' only first-quarter points came on a 3-pointer from Alvon Woodard.

Hillsborough scrapped back in the second quarter to cut the halftime deficit to 33-26. Bullard scored 10 of his 14 points by halftime to bring the Terriers back into it, but the Tornadoes continued to answer every challenge and finally pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Leading by five, the Tornadoes were forced to go the free-throw line. They hit eight of nine free throws down the stretch, including four straight technical foul shots made by Cory Carden.

Hillsborough coach Andre Lewis was still all smiles after the game. The Terriers had their best season since 1996, and Lewis has a loaded roster coming back next season. He was also proud of his team's fight after the early 13-point deficit.

"We were never going to back down, and that's why we came back," Lewis said. "We had to play our game and we fell back because we were a little bit timid in the first quarter. Once we settled down and played our own game we knew we were going to get it going."

O'Rourke and White led the Tornadoes with 22 points apiece, and Bullard led the Terriers with 20.

Jeff Berlinicke

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