Friday, 18 February 2011
By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
It was a shootout between Poinciana and Leesburg Thursday in the 4A-2 regional playoffs, but one of the Eagles main sharpshooters was injured in the third quarter helping Leesburg to a 67-60 victory.
The Yellow Jackets, 24-4, play Tuesday in the regional semifinal round. Poinciana ended its most successful season at 19-8.
Poinciana was ahead by 12, 50-38, in the third quarter and had wrestled control of a seesaw game when guard Stefan Moody (11 points) went down with an ankle injury.
Without Moody, a 5-9 junior with a 37-inch vertical leap, Poinciana’s offense struggled even though senior guard Osanto Marc had a season-high 33 points and Lex Curry scored 10 as Poinciana regained the lead at 57-56 with 3:50 to play.
The Yellow Jackets, who dominated the glass all night, often getting three and four shots on each trip, pulled ahead as guard D’maury Jones (12) scored four points in a row.
“We were up by like 11, and (Moody) goes up for a rebound and comes down and turns his ankle and has to leave the court,” Poinciana Coach Jay Lunce said. “He tried to get back into it, but he couldn’t go. Like I say, we’re hard to stop when we’re healthy.”
Moody re-entered the game with two minutes to play, but by then Leesburg had all the momentum and ran nine points in a row to build a 65-57 lead.
Marc hit a 3-pointer with 35 seconds to play to pull the Eagles within five, 65-60, but he fouled out 20 seconds later and Leesburg’s Robert Jones (9) dunked to cap the hard-fought win.
“Osanto, he’s stepped up and played well,” Lunce said. “He’s a big asset.”
Teron Wallace, who hit a pair of 3-point shots during Leesburg’s fourth-quarter comeback, led the Jackets with 20 points.
Marc, who transferred to Poinciana from East Ridge, said Leesburg won the game on the boards.
“It was the rebounding. We couldn’t out-rebound them,” he said.
Like his coach, Marc said Moody’s absence for most of the second half made a difference.
“It hurt us a lot. Stefan’s one of our best guards. He gives us a spark when he’s in there,” Marc said.
Moody scored all of his points in the first half, eight in the first quarter.
Poinciana opened the second half on a 9-2 run and led 44-36. Sherwood Vinson scored five points and Paris Greene added four for the Eagles.
Lunce said regardless of the outcome, his team played well against good competition.
“You really can’t ask for anything more. They played hard,” Lunce said. “We didn’t do a bad job shutting them down outside, but we got killed on the boards.”
Life Christian, 19-9, lost at Bradenton Christian, 60-53, Thursday in the A-2 regional quarterfinals.
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