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Hernando Today

Pasco Gets Payback

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: February 17, 2008

DADE CITY - Nature Coast Technical Head Coach Dave Pisarcik predicted that playing Pasco High in its home gym would be a tough game.

Not only was last Friday's Class 4A, District 8 Tournament semifinal between those two teams tough to play, at it times it was tough to watch.

In a low scoring, grind-it-out, somewhat sloppy duel between the second-seeded tournament host Pirates and third-seeded Sharks, the home team rallied in the fourth quarter for a 36-32 victory.

Pasco (19-7) advanced to Saturday's district title game against fifth-seeded Hudson High, who knocked off top seed and two-time defending champ Springstead High earlier in the night.

The Pirates also earned their 12th regional berth since 1991, after Nature Coast (19-8) denied them in last year's semifinals.

"It feels good," Pasco Head Coach Poncho Broner said. "These are the same guys right here that knocked us off last year. It's kind of good to return the favor."

Slow start

It took several minutes for either team to dent the scoreboard, but eventually the Pirates built an 11-2 lead on baskets by Sinclair Davis and T.J. Bryant early in the second quarter.

The Sharks responded with an 11-0 run to close out the half, tying it at 11 on a lay-up by P.J. Orgass off a steal by Bryant Pent.

Reshad Terry knocked down two free throws with 16.8 seconds remaining in the period to give Nature Coast its first lead, 13-11. That score held going into the intermission.

A 52-35 loss in this same building on Jan. 17 had Pisarcik changing his normal offensive game plan. His team had also dropped its first meeting with Pasco on Dec. 7, 64-57.

"Pasco forces you to play uncomfortable," Pisarcik said. "They don't want you to run your offense. If we ran the transition game, they might have blown us out by 20 like they did early in the season. We slowed it down and it worked. That's all you can ask for is an opportunity to win the game."

In the final seconds of the third quarter, Joe Silvestri found Mike Adams for a hoop to open up a 24-18 advantage, though Tavaris Jordan cut that lead in half on a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Jordan's steal under the hoop resulted in an easy lay-up at the 3:43 mark of the fourth quarter to put the Pirates in front, 25-24.

The lead changed hands twice and there was one tie before Jordan chased down a long offensive rebound and found Bryant for a go-ahead score with 2:07 to play, 30-28.

Demetrious Larry knocked down four straight free throws in a pair of one-and-one situations in the final two minutes to make it a 34-28 edge.

Terry scored off a pass from Orgass to pull Nature Coast within four with 11 seconds remaining. Bryant missed the front end of a one-and-one, while Silvestri cashed in twice from the charity stripe, cutting the deficit to two.

Yet Larry completed a 6-for-6 quarter from the foul line with two more successful free throws, sealing the win.

"It was one of those games where you gut it out and at the end you look up at the scoreboard and you're ahead," Broner said. "I definitely didn't expect it to be that low scoring but we didn't mind that. This group of guys, we can go either way.

"I told them (at the beginning of the fourth quarter) you got to stay solid defensively. If you get a chance to shoot free throws, you got to make free throws. It was a concentrated effort not to let Silvestri get uncontested threes."

Silvestri, the Sharks' leading scorer, hit only two three-pointers, the senior tallying just eight points. He did add six rebounds and two assists.

Terry led everyone with 18 points, going 10-of-10 from the foul line, and grabbed seven rebounds and two steals. Orgass had a team-high four steals.

Bryant scored 14 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals pacing the Pirates. Jordan chipped in seven points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists.

"We had opportunities," Pisarcik said. "Pasco put a tremendous amount of pressure on us. We did OK for the majority of the game. We were up going into the fourth. We're probably one possession away from this game being reversed.

"My hat's off to the guys. They executed the game plan and we had a chance to win. That's all you can ask for."

PASCO 36, NATURE COAST 32
Qtr. scoring 1 2 3 4    
Nature Coast 2 11 11 8 — 32
Pasco 7 4 10 15 — 36

Nature Coast (32): Silvestri 2 2-2 8, Terry 4 10-10 18, Adams 1 0-0 2, Pent 0, Orgass 2 0-0 4, Drake 0. Totals 9 12-12 32.
Pasco (36): Larry 1 6-6 8, Bryant 6 2-4 14, Vanterpool 1 0-0 2, Elliott 0, Jordan 3 0-0 7, Davis 2 0-0 5, Howard 0, Dunn 0. Totals 13 8-10 36.
Three-point field goals: NCT 2 (Silvestri 2); PAS 2 (Davis, Jordan).
Total fouls: NCT 14; PAS 15.
Technical fouls: none.
Fouled out: none.
Records: Nature Coast (19-8), Pasco (19-7).
Class 4A, District 8 Tournament Recap
at Pasco High
02-04
Land O' Lakes-Sunlake 50, Hernando 37
02-05
Springstead 72, Sunlake 38
Pasco 66, Gulf 48
02-06
Hudson 57, Zephyrhills 45
Nature Coast 77, Wesley Chapel-Wiregrass Ranch 40
02-08
Hudson 48, Springstead 44
Pasco 36, Nature Coast 32
02-09
Championship
Pasco 60, Hudson 48

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or online at cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com

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