I spent my Friday night watching high school basketball for fun, and one game in particular stood out to me.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a high school basketball game as good as the one the Durant and Plant City boys played Jan. 15.
After sweeping the Raiders in the 2014-15 season, Durant got caught up in its mistakes in a 62-54 loss to PCHS earlier this season. The Cougars went into this game not only looking to get some revenge but also to help the school sweep the newly-created Improvement League Classic matchups of the night.
Plant City got off to a pretty good start, scoring with little trouble thanks in part to a strong showing from senior forward Randall Haley. As great as flashy play can be, Haley showed that all a player needs to do to be effective is to nail the fundamentals: Haley not only played well in the post, banking in shots, but also displayed great court vision and IQ that helped the Raiders stay one step ahead.
Of course, I’d be remiss to mention Plant City basketball without getting to junior Tarik McKelphin. McKelphin is always the most exciting player on the floor for the Raiders, with his scoring touch and ability to jump out of the gym, and his athleticism was on full display Friday night. The only problem was that he started the game with a cold streak.
That, if anything, was Durant’s chance to set the tone early and make up for the last game these teams played. The Cougars played solid team basketball, but it was the efforts of Tyler White and Justin Hughes that most affected the game.
White, this week’s Athlete of the Week, started the game hot and didn’t cool down. He launched three ball after three ball, making most of them, and sent several Raiders skidding out of the way with his handles — in particular, his stepback.
Hughes, a senior, both scored well and played defense like a man possessed. McKelphin and company might have gotten the better of Hughes Dec. 11, but it couldn’t have been much more different this time.
The Cougars led by two points going into halftime, and the teams kept things fairly close throughout the third quarter. The fourth quarter featured at least seven lead changes, both sides scoring on what seemed like nearly every possession and some last-minute drama with White having to ice the game at the free throw line.
Cougar fans rightly went nuts. I almost wanted to break the sports writer’s rule, “no cheering in the press box,” because it was such a good game.
I’ve written in the past that I wished the boys basketball scene in the area could be as strong as the girls scene. Every girls team in this area can play well (all three teams have winning records, and just 10 losses between them), but a boys team with that level of success only comes around once in a while. As such, the fan attendance for basketball games isn’t always spectacular.
I do think that we’re making progress in the right direction, and games like this are only going to help get there. Basketball is as fun to watch as any sport out there and, hopefully, its popularity around the area will grow as our teams start to taste success across the board.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.