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Hernando Today

Powell Evens Slate By Sweeping Parrott

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By JIM REDMILE, Hernando Today correspondent

Published: February 3, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Powell Middle School swept Parrott Monday afternoon, with the junior varsity basketball team winning in overtime 24-18, and varsity winning in regulation, 40-28.

One point at a time

The junior varsity match-up started with Parrott's Tyrail Hawkins making the first basket off the opening tip-off. Powell's Niko Siskos was fouled and went 1-for-2 from the line, and the first quarter ended, 2-1.

Leopard Darren Hambrick, a 14-year-old 6-footer, scored two field goals in the second quarter and had help from teammates Jeremiah Jackson and Robert Besser, who each had a basket.

But Parrott (0-1), despite an 8-point second quarter, committed 7-of-9 fouls in the half, putting Powell in the 1-and-1 with 1:24 left.

The Panthers (2-0) kept their hopes alive connecting on 3-of-5 free throws. Christian Arroyo was 2-for-2 and Wyatt Hessler went 1-for-2 to end the half, 10-3.

At the beginning of the second half, foul trouble began to plague Parrott again, and with 2:21 left in the third quarter, the Leopards had more fouls than points. Jackson went 1-of-4 from the line for the only Leopard points.

Powell, yet to make a field goal in the entire game, relied on its free throw capabilities, with Siskos, Arroyo and Hessler going 5-of-6 for one-pointers. By the end of the third, it chopped Parrott's lead to three, 11-9.

The Panthers tied it at 11-11 early in the fourth and Wilfred Pagan scored Powell's first field goal with five minutes left in the game. Pagan would add three more from the line and Hessler went 2-of-4. Arroyo scored the Panthers' second field goal going coast-to-coast for a lay-up.

Jackson and Hambrick led the late charge for Parrott scoring all seven fourth-quarter points, but Parrott's foul trouble finally took its toll on the Leopards when Hambrick, Parrott's leading scorer (9), committed his fifth personal foul with just 44 seconds left.

At the end of regulation, the game was tied, 18-18, with three minutes for overtime.
Fifteen seconds into overtime, those pesky fouls again bit the Leopards when Jackson, Parrott's second leading scorer (5), also fouled out.

For Powell, Siskos and Hessler, along with Joey Berrios, each had a field goal, ending overtime 6-0, and the final, 24-18.

"We didn't play the kind of ball I know they are capable of playing," said Parrott Head Coach Dwayne Mobley. "A lot of it was, I think, their first game. But we got to play better at guard, we got to play better at defense; we had entirely too many fouls; our big guys were missing too many baskets right up under the basket. You can't win a game if you play like that.

"Their team didn't make a basket until the fourth quarter," Mobley continued. "With free throws, time stops; you got someone shooting uncontested shots. It was our first game. Next game we'll be a lot better."

Panther Head Coach Paul Duncan took a deep breath. "That was a nail biter. I still got hair left, but it's going gray fast," he said with a smile. Duncan's philosophy is defense. "We have now given up an average of 17.5 points per game; we keep on playing defense like that, we'll be in every game this year.

"That's what we stress; defense, positioning, hands. The offense will come," Duncan continued. "Our style is attack, attack, attack; smart passes; cut to the hoop; high percentage shots, and if you don't make the shot, you're gonna get fouled."

A pair of six-footers

The varsity match-up saw Parrott (0-1) take a commanding 10-3 lead in the first quarter led by ClevAndre' Pope with six points and Zachary Sullivan and Nelson Elicier each contributing a field goal.

Rashad Vanlow and Marc Berlew, both at 6-foot-2, put up early points for Powell (1-1), but by the end of the first quarter, Vanlow had already committed three personal fouls. Dante Sollazzo, the Panther point guard, was charged with a technical foul for spiking the ball after disagreeing with a call made by the officials. The Leopards could not convert the free throws.

But Sollazzo redeemed himself by leading his team to an 11-6 second quarter, scoring six points with a field goal and going 4-for-8 from the line. Berlew and Anthony Fiocca had baskets and Kasey Bammann went 1-for-2 from the line.

Parrott's Jimmy Bragg, who did not see action in the first quarter, made 1-of-2 free throws and had a field goal. Rel Merriweather scored a bucket and Elicier went 1-for-2 for the Leopards, giving them a 16-14 lead at half, despite committing 12 personal fouls.

Vanlow returned for Powell to start the third quarter and matched Berlew's four points. Sollazzo and Fiocca each added to the total and Matthew Jackson got his first points of the day.

Powell scored 13 points but Parrott struggled in the third with just four. Malcolm Hudson and Pope, their leading scorer, both had field goals, but Pope picked up his third and fourth fouls back-to-back with almost three minutes left in the quarter. A bench technical foul was called on Parrott for too many men on the court when C.J. Clark attempted to enter the game before the referee called him in from the sidelines. This time, Powell could not convert the free throws.
Parrott picked it up in the fourth scoring eight points, five by Bragg who also had a three-pointer. Pope and Sullivan were both 1-for-2 from the line and Hudson went 1-for-3 in the 1-and-1.

But the Panthers finished Parrott off in the fourth as Berlew and Fiocca each had baskets, and Luke May and Kevin Oliviera each had two field goals coming off the bench late.

"They played great, my big guys finally stepped up," said 1-1 Powell Head Coach Jason Dixon.

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