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Colleges

PHCC surge ends in final of tourney

By STEVE LEE
Published February 23, 2005

NEW PORT RICHEY - For the Pasco-Hernando Community College men's basketball team, there were two paths to the state tournament.

The Conquistadors could have finished atop the Suncoast Conference in the regular season or won the conference tournament.

PHCC missed out on both counts - just barely on the latter.

PHCC, last in the conference at 3-9, snapped a three-game losing streak against Polk to win Saturday's tournament semifinal, 54-49. That set up Monday's final against Hillsborough CC, a team PHCC also lost to three times during the season.

A 72-70 loss dashed the Conquistadors' state bid.

Derell Henderson's basket tied it at 70, but after Hillsborough made a basket, Henderson's 3-point attempt with 1.6 seconds left clanked off the rim.

"It was one great basketball game," PHCC coach Bobby Bowman said, adding his players "poured their hearts out."

PHCC, which has reached state five times and won the 1998 crown, has not qualified for that round since 2001. The Conquistadors finished 13-19 this season, including nine losses by six points or fewer.

"They hung tough together," Bowman said. "They were definitely focused down the stretch."

Otis White, PHCC's scoring leader with a 17-point average, led four Conquistadors in double figures in the final. White had 19, Durell Sykes 16, David Simpson 13 and Antwan Wright 11.

Sykes, the team's rebounding leader at 6.2 a game, had nine against Hillsborough; Wright had 7.

In Saturday's semifinal, Wright led PHCC with 11 points, White had nine and Sykes seven.

"We played them pretty close all year," Bowman said of Polk, adding that in the playoff win, "we didn't turn the ball over and we got good shots. Defensively, and rebounding, it was a good effort."

RECORD STROKES: Championship-caliber golf might not lie in the Saint Leo men's golf team's immediate future, but the greens are looking better of late.

In the team's four seasons it had never cracked the top 10 in any tournament. That changed in the All-South Collegiate Invitational Feb. 13-15 at Plantation Oaks in Gainesville. The Lions placed seventh with school records of 600 for the two-day tourney and a 297 round on the second day.

"It's huge," first-year coach Ray Cisbani said. "They've always been the doormat of the conference and now for them to creep up to seventh out of 20 teams ... that's a big hurdle."

John Semeraro had the Lions' best outing for 36 holes with 74-74-148, 4 over par.

Finishing behind Semeraro were teammates Marc Bayram (77-72-149), Brian Schmidt (77-75-152), Jason Claridge (Land O'Lakes, 75-78-153) and Jacob Halligan (82-76-158).

STREAK ENDS: The Saint Leo softball team's season-opening nine-game winning streak ended Sunday with doubleheader losses (3-0 and 1-0) to West Florida.

Southpaw Katie Heintz led Saint Leo, which won four of six last week, with a 2-1 record. That included a no-hitter in the 1-0 loss to West Florida.

Heintz (5-1) has a 0.00 ERA; the only three runs she has allowed were unearned. In 43 innings, she has given up nine hits, walked 10 and struck out 85.

Saint Leo (9-2) swept two doubleheaders last week, 4-2 and 10-0 against Simon Fraser, and 4-1 and 3-2 against Florida Gulf Coast.

Denyve Duncan (.333), Erin Brunt and Ashley Black (.310) are the Lions' leading hitters. Duncan, a senior second baseman, hit .533 and scored four runs last week. Brunt, a sophomore catcher, hit .313.

[Last modified February 23, 2005, 00:35:16]