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Raiders Take A Playoff Win

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 20, 2008

PLANT CITY - Hey, wasn't the team that hadn't been to the playoffs in a long time supposed to be the nervous one?

Plant City outplayed a tight-looking Sickles team on Valentine's Day to win in the Raiders' first boys basketball postseason appearance since 1993. The Raiders prevailed 49-35 at the Sickles gym.

"We were well-prepared," said Raider guard Rod Henderson, who had a big hand in Thursday's victory with a game-high 16 points. "We love playing away from home. Their crowd didn't bother us - it pumped us up."

The Sickles' student section was about 100 strong but attempts at rattling the Raiders were in vain.

One student brought a poster of Raider guard Channing Woodall.

"It had one of my MySpace pictures on it. Those guys were funny," Woodall said.

Unfortunately for the Gryphons' fans, their basketball team did not supply enough reasons to get excited.

Sickles relies on the three-point shot; it was a big factor in the Grphyons' win over Plant City during the regular season, but Thursday the team made only two of its 25 attempts.

"They can shoot it. They made five three-pointers against us in the fourth quarter to beat us the first time," Raiders head coach Dale Chambers said. "But we made sure this time to put a hand up and contest their shots better."

For example, Kelvin Daniels, who lit up the Raiders for 21 points, sinking six three-pointers in the Jan. 12 game, was held to five points in the playoff game.

It did not look good for the Raiders at the start of the game, with Plant City falling behind 5-0. Starting forward Steve Hardnett was pulled from the game and given a brief-but-powerful pep talk from Chambers, who yelled "play hard" to his senior.

"He was maybe a bit nervous, but he can take me getting on him a little bit," Chambers said.

Hardnett said he needed the shakeup, saying that the long bus drive from Plant City (traffic made it a 90-minute ride) made it tough for him to get going.

But right after he re-entered the game, Hardnett took over, scoring eight points to help send Plant City to a 22-14 halftime lead.

Hardnett's efforts came in handy as Woodall sat out the second quarter with two fouls.

"This year, when someone gets in foul trouble, someone else steps up. I knew I had to do it when Channing went out," Hardnett said.

Woodall, the Raiders' stellar senior guard, established his control over the game in the second half as Plant City added to its lead. Mostly, Woodall created opportunities with his passing and defense.

Henderson nailed a three-pointer, and Hardnett followed with a bucket for a 30-17 lead in the third quarter. The Raiders faltered briefly, allowing Sickles to close within 30-24 at the end of the period, but they got the lead back out to 37-27 on a bucket by Woodall with 5:30 left in the game.

Sickles made one brief run, but solid free-throw shooting, mostly from Henderson, preserved Plant City's first playoff win since the team advanced to the state semis in 1991.

Chambers deflected any credit for his team's renewed playoff success.

"It's definitely not about me. I took over a very talented group, and I want to give some credit to my assistant coach, Dave Robbins," Chambers said. "These guys have shown me a lot of growth and maturity."

Plant City was scheduled to play a regional semifinal game at Lakeland on Tuesday night. If the Raiders were able to knock off their district rival, they will play again Saturday with a trip to the 6A state semifinals at stake.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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