Boys basketball roundup: Wharton, Brandon reach final

Wharton held off pesky Alonso and pulled away for a 57-51 victory Friday night in the Class 6A-District 8 semifinals.

The top-seeded Wildcats will take on Brandon, which edged Plant 53-47, in the district final tonight at 7 at Alonso.

The Wildcats (24-1) struggled through much of the first half after jumping to leads of 9-0 and 11-4. After a timeout, the Ravens came back with eight straight points and trailed by only two at the half.

"I just told them that Alonso played harder, played smarter, and played tougher and that was the difference," Wharton coach Tommy Tonelli said. "I told them if they kept their composure we would be OK. That's what it took."

Wharton scored the first 10 points of the third quarter. Damian Dixon had 14 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 19.

Brandon (11-12) struggled early but kept it close, outscoring Plant (12-13) 22-11 in the second quarter. Charles Johnson scored 15 points for the Eagles, and Michael Frazier scored 27 for the Panthers.

Jeff Berlinicke

5A-District 8

LITHIA - Tampa Bay Tech hadn't been to the playoffs since 2004, when it won a district title to advance to the Class 4A region quarterfinals. Friday, the Titans, the fourth-seeded team in the Class 5A-District 8 tournament, ended their six-year postseason drought by clinching a spot in the 5A region with a 58-52 upset victory against top-seeded Plant City.

Tampa Bay Tech will face third-seeded Newsome, a 60-58 winner against Durant, in the district final tonight at 7 at Newsome.

TBT (11-10) took a 44-42 lead with 1:50 remaining in the third quarter and sustained a surge by the Raiders (17-6). Senior guard LaCarlton Nelson led the Titans with 16 points, and Brown Peterson led Plant City with 15.

Newsome (19-8) survived an 18-4 run by Durant (18-5) in the fourth quarter.

Newsome senior forward Samal Shephard led his team with 18 points. Durant junior Andre Nation scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.

Nick Williams

5A-District 9

Chamberlain coach Christopher Snyder's biggest obstacle prior to his team's 63-58 victory against Hillsborough in the Class 5A-Distirct 9 semifinals was winning over his players.

Snyder replaced Doug Aplin, who retired prior to this season after 31 years as a head coach. Snyder's second obstacle was getting the Chiefs to believe in each other.

After accomplishing those objectives, Chamberlain (13-10) continued its season of achievement by upsetting Hillsborough (18-5), which had defeated the Chiefs twice during the regular season.

"We talked about it this season and how important it was to gain trust," Snyder said. "I would say we've seen it over the past four games and it showed tonight."

Chamberlain forward Eric Storts scored a team-high 19 points. Senior guard Mike Julien had 14, including a 3-pointer with 44 seconds remaining to give his team a 59-58 advantage.

Chamberlain advanced to play against Sickles, a 71-37 winner against King, in today's final at Hillsborough.

Sickles was led by Rashawn Rembert with 15 points. King's Reshard Brown scored a game-high 16.

Anwar S. Richardson

4A-District 9

Top-seeded Blake and No. 3 Jesuit will meet tonight for the Class 4A-District 9 championship after they won their semifinal games.

Blake used a strong second-half effort to pull away from No. 5 Jefferson 61-42. Jesuit used a patient, deliberate motion offense and an active zone defense to defeat No. 2 Spoto 51-39.

The Yellow Jackets (23-4) trailed by five early and went into the break down 22-21, but outscored Jefferson 40-20 in the second half.

Michael McFarland scored a game-high 23 points for Blake.

Michael Kinsey (22 points) and Jeremie Finch (17) accounted for all but three of Jefferson's points.

Guard Austin Schonbrun, who hit three 3-pointers, and center Calvin Ruff each scored 13 points for Jesuit (16-8).

Gregg Becnel

4A-District 8

ZEPHYRHILLS - All season, the talk in Class 4A-District 8 land focused on the Big 3 - Lecanto, Brooksville Nature Coast and Wiregrass Ranch.

And in the end, it was Lecanto and Nature Coast advancing to tonight's championship game, but Zephyrhills almost crashed the party.

The Bulldogs, who lost to Lecanto by 40 three weeks ago, came from nine points down at the half before losing 69-67 in overtime to the Panthers in Friday's semifinals. In the first game, Wiregrass Ranch (21-6) saw its most successful season in the program's four years end in a 57-52 loss to Nature Coast.

Zephyrhills (14-11) went on a 16-4 third-quarter run to take a 3-point lead into the final quarter. But Lecanto (20-4) just wouldn't give up. Despite the Bulldogs' 13-for-14 free throw performance in the final eight minutes, two costly turnovers in the final 33.8 seconds gave the Panthers a chance - and they capitalized.

Zephyrhills' Kyle Farrell led all scorers with 30 points.

In the opener, Wiregrass Ranch got 20 points from Eric Williams but couldn't overcome a 16-3 run in the second quarter by Nature Coast (24-3). The Bulls trailed by eight at the half and never got closer than three in the second half.

Rick Harmon

4A-District 7

NEW PORT RICHEY - Mitchell survived a scare from first-year Anclote 53-48, and top-seeded Ridgewood routed Wesley Chapel 68-50 to set up today's final between the top two seeds in Class 4A-District 7.

The Mustangs (16-9) watched a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead dwindle to two after a 3-pointer by Aaron Hester with less than three minutes left. But Chad Jeckel answered with the last of his game-high 27 points.

Sevy Galati led Anclote (10-13) with 13 points.

In the nightcap, the Rams (23-3) extended their win streak to 19, pulling away after a slow start in the first quarter.

Charles Jones had 22 points for Ridgewood.

Bart O'Connell