The Plant City Raiders made their way across town to face rival Strawberry Crest last Friday, coming away with a 62-50 win to move to 16-3 on the year as the Chargers fell to 8-12.
Strawberry Crest opened the scoring with a 2-0 lead but the Raiders quickly answered back with a layup from senior guard Damian Jones, followed by a three from Jones on the next possession. Plant City’s senior guard Ray Cowen then came up with a steal and bucket in transition and senior forward Elijah Dawson added a free throw on the next possession to give Plant City a quick 8-2 lead. And as the Raiders raced out to extend their lead to 13-4, Strawberry Crest’s senior forward Leo Meng hit back-to-back buckets, followed by a steal and transition layup from sophomore guard Cameron Crowe, to cut the Plant City advantage to just 13-10 after the first quarter.
“It’s always fun when we’re playing Durant or Strawberry Crest, they’re kind of our rivalry games so I always say that it doesn’t matter what our records are when we play these games. It’s going to be a good environment, there’s going to be intensity from both sides, it’s always fun to play in these types of games,” head coach Billy Teeden said.
In the second, Plant City kicked off the quarter with a three from Jones and the Raiders began rolling as a 13-5 run to start the period gave them a double digit lead at 26-15, but the Chargers once again rattled off a run of their own. After a pair of tough offensive rebounds inside, Meng cut the Raiders lead to 26-17. Then a transition layup from Crowe, a huge three and an inside bucket from senior guard Kevin Canady Jr. had Strawberry Crest right back in the contest, trailing just 26-24 as the two teams headed to the locker room for halftime.
Jones then jumpstarted the third quarter the way he started the second, with a quick three to give the Raiders a 29-24 lead but Canady answered right back with a three of his own. On the Chargers’ next possession, Canady drove the lane and finished at the bucket with an extremely athletic layup through contact, hitting the free throw to cut the deficit to 31-30, but from that point on it was all Plant City.
Ending the quarter with an 11-4 run to hold a 42-34 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, junior forward Malachi Morris drilled a corner three to put the Raiders up 11. Two free throws from Canady on the Chargers’ next possession would close the gap to nine but a putback score from Dawson on the other end would once again give the Raiders another double-digit lead, one that they would not relinquish as they held off any potential comeback attempt from the Chargers and added another notch in the win column.
“We had some poor shot selection and decision making that kind of let them back in the game and when you’re playing on your home court you shoot a little better,” Teeden said. “We kind of shot ourselves back into the game but credit to Strawberry Crest, they were missing one of their better players tonight but they never stopped, they competed, it was a good game.”
Now at 17-3 following a 66-50 win over Freedom on Tuesday, Plant City’s experienced roster has picked up right where they left off following a 2021-2022 season in which the Raiders finished the year at 20-8 and a regional quarterfinal appearance, despite the loss of one of their most impactful players from last season in DJ Haynes. With three games remaining against Jefferson, Wharton and Newsome, the Raiders will likely enter the 7A District 9 tournament as a top-two seed alongside Winter Haven, guaranteeing them a bye to the semifinal round when tournament play starts on Feb. 7.
“I genuinely don’t know if I expected this season,” Teeden said. “I did expect this team to be a closer team, I felt that our chemistry was good during the offseason, but I didn’t expect to be 16-3, I can’t lie. But I love where we’re at and we just have to keep getting better because it’s playoff time. Some guys are getting some more minutes, some guys are making some plays and it’s a group that’s starting to believe in each other. We’ve still got a lot to improve on but absolutely, they’ve stepped up.”
As for Strawberry Crest, they have four games left on their schedule as they’ll face Bell Creek Academy, Plant, Blake and Robinson before entering the 7A District 9 tournament.