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Hernando Today

Leopards Can't Hit the Spot

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By JIM REDMILE

Hernando Today correspondent

Published: February 10, 2008

DADE CITY - In the battle between eighth-seeded Sunlake and ninth-seeded Hernando in the Class 4A, District 8 Basketball Tournament at Pasco, Monday night's winner received a date against No. 1 seed Springstead in the quarterfinals.

But Monday night's game at the Dr. Donald McBath Activities Center wasn't even as close as the score may suggest.

Sunlake, who under first year Head Coach Bob Marinak went 2-23 on the regular season, got up early and never looked back eliminating Hernando, 50-37.

Sunlake led from the opening tap to erect a 14-0 first-quarter cushion. Eli Escobar had eight of those points.

Hernando, which finished 1-27 on the year, had four turnovers and missed four shots.

But in the second quarter, the Leopards managed to cut that deficit in half as Lamon Neal put the team on his back and began to drive at the basket, scoring nine points, five of them from the free-throw line.

"We saw a weakness and we were trying to exploit it a little better in the second quarter," said Hernando High's first-year Head Coach Chris Ridenour. "We just didn't do a good job in the third quarter coming out and doing the same."

The Seahawks led 18-11 to start the second half.

"At halftime, I said the way we finished in the second quarter, we need to come out the same way the third quarter," said Ridenour.

Hernando tried to exploit the same weakness in the Seahawk defense, clearing out for Neal and letting him drive to the basket, but it wasn't as effective in the third as Neal led all Leopards with five points, but racked up three fouls of his own.

The two teams traded turnovers and baskets until 2:45 in the third quarter, when Sunlake's Marke Dionisio hit a three-pointer, 31-19 Seahawks. Ridenour quickly called a timeout, but when action resumed, Dionisio again hit from three-point land.

"We get too far behind; we struggle," said Ridenour. "It could have been my fault we didn't come out tonight and play the way we should have. You've got to make that the coach's responsibility; I have to make sure that we're ready to play and unfortunately, we weren't ready to play.

"We thought they started collapsing and thought we were going to exploit the weakness. I just felt they didn't have anything to match up with Lamon," said Ridenour. "We got into some foul trouble with them driving and we really couldn't stop them."

Both teams went into the 1-and-1 with 5:30 left in the fourth and both teams scored 14, with six of the Leopard points from three's by Carlos Ford and Mikell Coleman.

But the Seahawks would maintain their lead to the end.

"The season doesn't stop right now. Unfortunately, it does with the seniors, but we're going to have spring and summer leagues and keep them playing basketball all year long, not just November through February," said Ridenour. "We got a lot of good freshmen and sophomores and had two sophomores this year that moved up and had a lot a minutes.

"We're going to work those guys and get everyone playing together all year round - we're excited. It was a tough year, unfortunately, but we're excited about the future. We think we've got a great future."

Sunlake 50, Hernando 37

Qtr. Scoring
1
2
3
4
 
 

HER
 0
11
12
14
—
37

SUN
14
4
18
14
—
50
 
HER: Ford 2 0-0 5, Coleman 1 0-0 3, Neal 3 9-15 15, Byrd 1 0-0 2, Eikenberry 0 1-2 1, Howell 1 2-4 4, Nelson 0 3-4 3, Emerson 1 2-3 4, Steitz 0, Stephens 0. Totals 9 17-27 37.
SUN: Dionisio 4 4-4 14, Hernandez 1 3-4 5, Escobar 5 9-11 19, Williams 4 0-2 8, Pabon 1 0-0 2, Hisamoto 1 0-2 2, Samuels 0, Simpson 0, Tate 0, Mulkey 0. Totals 16 16-23 50.
3-point field goals: HER: Ford 1, Coleman 1; SUN Dionisio 2.
Total fouls: HER: 20; SUN 19.
Fouled out: HER: Ford, Eikenberry.
Technicals: none.
Records: Hernando (1-27); Sunlake (2-25).

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