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Night For The Ages

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By NICK WILLIAMS

nwilliams@tampatrib.com

Published: January 30, 2009

During the final week of the regular season, programs normally say goodbye to the graduating seniors with a pregame ceremony.

Senior Night, as it's called, is meant to honor years of hard work. Players walk hand-in-hand with their parents to the center of the court as coaches give heart-filled speeches and the underclassmen get to say they want to win the game for the seniors.

Senior Night throughout Hillsborough County this season will be unlike any in recent memory as this year's boys basketball graduating class will be remembered as one the most talented ever assembled.

Of the dozen - and possibly more - college-level prospects, this year's class already includes three Division I signees - Sickles' John Henson (North Carolina), King's Toarlyn Fitzpatrick (Georgia Southern) and Plant's Sheldon Cooley (East Tennessee State).

There are eight 1,000-point scorers - Henson, Fitzpatrick, Cooley, Austin Suarez (Berkeley Prep), Johnathan Gray (Berkeley), Callum Townsend (Bloomingdale), Fredrick Drayton (Tampa Bay Tech) and Aaron Garden (Durant). Three players - Garden, Townsend and Cooley - are the school's all-time leading scorers. Bloomingdale senior forward Joe Raga also may surpass 1,000 points by the end of his prep career.

In addition, Fitzpatrick and Cooley could both reach 2,000 points before the end of their prep careers. As of Wednesday, Cooley has 1,957 points and could reach the milestone within the next two regular-season games, while Fitzpatrick has 1,881 career points. Only 10 players have surpassed the 2,000-point milestone in county history.

Townsend, who was the county's leading scorer with 24.0 points per game before suffering a season-ending injury against King on Jan. 7, ended his career with 1,552 points.

Henson, the No. 3-rated player in the nation, moved to Tampa in August with 1,014 career points - 348 his sophomore year and 666 his junior year, at Round Rock High in Texas. This season, he has amassed 317 points, giving him 1,331 in three varsity seasons.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Class of 2009 is Chamberlain senior center Matt Kendrick. The 6-foot-10 Kendrick is averaging 19.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game, compared to 9.2 points and 9.5 rebounds as a junior.

FEATURED PLAYER

FRED LEWIS,

BAYSHORE CHRISTIAN

Junior, Guard/Forward

ABOUT LEWIS: Lewis, a 6-foot-3 guard/forward, is Hillsborough County's leading scorer with 21.7 points per game. As a sophomore, he led Bayshore Christian to the Class 1A region semifinals and is rated as one of Florida's top prospects for 2010.

FEATURED PLAYER

Reporter Nick Williams can be reached at (813) 259-7851.

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