SPRING HILL – The Springstead Eagles (12-7) downed the Central Bears (11-7) in boys’ basketball on Tuesday night. Head Coach Matt McGarry’s Eagles utilized a dominant fourth quarter to take the hard-fought 48-34 victory over their cross-county rival.
“We have had a problem this year of playing with whomever the level is around us. If we are trying to do great things this year, you got to be able to take yourself to a level and keep it there in order to win […] When you are able to pull it out, especially in crunch time, that is what is most important.”
This was the Eagles’ third game in a row where it took until “crunch time” to put the contest away. While much of that can certainly be attributed to teams like Central playing hard and getting better later on in the season, the Eagles coach still feels there are times that they could be a little sharper.
Despite this, Coach McGarry does feel they have exceeded much of the expectations placed on his crew coming into this year. With another close win in the books, how did the home team manage to gut out another tough matchup?
With Springstead trailing 11-7 late in the opening frame, Senior Zion McKenzie (9 points, 2 steals, 1 rebound) jumpstarted their first run of the evening when he drove inside for a layup to halve Central’s lead with 1:52 remaining.
The Red, White, and Blue would proceed to outscore the visitors 16-2 over the next 6:18 of game time. Five Eagles would knock down shots during this stretch, with five points apiece coming from Junior Sam Franco (10 points, 2 steals, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) and Junior Christian Cordero (5 points, 4 steals, 3 rebounds, 1 assist).
The Bears did not back down and answered right back. Over the final three and a half minutes of the second quarter, Central scored 10 straight points, punctuated by Junior Rommy Abreau’s tying turnaround jumper with 7 seconds left in the half.
The third period was a back-and-forth, low-scoring affair that saw the Eagles take a slight advantage by outscoring the visitors 9-6 during that span. In addition to good defense, there may have been something else that contributed to both teams’ dearth of scoring.
Midway through the penultimate frame, Junior Xavior Haegele collided with the padded wall. The game was paused briefly as he received medical attention, but he thankfully got up, hugged his teammates, and walked off the court. After the game, Bears Head Coach Jeff D’Angelo noted that Haegele “got his bell rung a little bit.”
That added to Central’s number of woes. Besides Haegele, another player was out with food poisoning, another player was ejected, and yet another fouled out. The Bears’ coach felt that played a large part in the outcome on Tuesday night.
Coach McGarry also feels that a late change in strategy contributed to their 15-4 run in the final frame. “We kind of abandoned our half-court trap and put some pressure in full court,” he said. “That helped us out a lot.”
A big piece of this, too, was Springstead’s deployment of McKenzie. With the Senior being having been sick for “a while,” the Eagles were looking to conserve him, but the flow of the game dictated otherwise.
“I was trying to limit his minutes as much as I could, but fourth quarter came and it looked like I needed him for all eight minutes, and he did what he does best. It just proves to show how important he is to this team.”
His trio of layups and pair of steals were integral to the Eagles pulling out the win, but just as crucial were the five points (two free throws and a trey) scored by Franco in the span of 15 seconds. With roughly three minutes left in the contest, Franco extended his team’s lead from 9 to 14 before the home team salted the game away.
The Bears’ next matchup will be at Hernando on Friday. They will look to get healthier with the end of the season fast approaching. The Eagles will host Nature Coast on Friday as well. Coach McGarry feels that his squad has “still got a lot to prove ourselves. I think that is where it starts is proving it to ourselves, and then we will prove it to other people.”
