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Buzzer Leaves Cougars 1-1 At Tournament

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By DAREK SHARP The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

AUBURNDALE - A three-pointer at the buzzer kept Durant from a perfect 2-0 trip to the Big Blue Classic in Auburndale.

The Cougars defeated Lake Region 73-60 and came close to beating Lake Gibson until Preston Frederick nailed a three-pointer to force overtime. Lake Gibson won 74-67.

Overall, the Cougars received a boost from their performance, and they will look to carry that energy into their holiday event. This afternoon, Durant hopes to take the championship of the Beef O' Brady's New Years Shootout.

On Friday, Durant was to take on Spoto, and assuming a victory it will play for the championship at 3 p.m. today against either East Bay or Blake. The consolation game is at 1 p.m. The action will unfold at the Durant High gym.

Durant was led by Royce Rose in the first game at the Big Blue Classic, a 16-team event featuring Polk County schools going up against out-of-county squads.

Rose scored 19 points and had 12 rebounds.

"It was a sloppy game by both teams, but Royce cleaned up a lot of the messes," said Durant head coach Jeff Shotwell. "It was the kind of game we would have lost last year, so I was proud that we gathered our composure down the stretch and got the job done."

Durant looked to be rolling toward another win Dec. 29, leading Lake Gibson by 36-23 in the third quarter. But the Braves would end the quarter on an 18-6 run to make it a one-point game.

It went back and forth from there, and Durant twice came up with clutch free throws, first by Jeffrey Thomas, then by A.J. Garden, to push the score to 58-55. But with 10 seconds left, Frederick nailed a three-point shot.

Frederick scored 35 points - 25 after halftime - and was matched by Durant's Garden, who scored 30. He was 10-of-10 on free throws.

This weekend, Garden should pass the 1,000-point mark for his career. The junior entered the Beef O' Brady's event with 971 points.

Durant brought a 7-5 record into the tournament and has some key district contests next week. The Cougars finished the first half of the season with two district defeats along with Plant City. Those squads play next week.

Lakeland has no district setbacks, and Sarasota Riverview has one - against Plant City. But Lakeland and Sarasota Riverview will meet twice, meaning any of the four teams has a shot at the district title.

The Cougars anticipate getting a big lift with the return of Denaldi Bradley. He broke a bone in his hand during the second game of the season.

"His rebounding and shot blocking will help us tremendously," Shotwell said. "He is also our inbounder in all situations and is the best passing big man we have. You take for granted your inbounder until you lose him."

The regular season resumes when Durant visits Riverview on Wednesday.

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

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