Karmello Branch drives to the hoop in Wharton’s region championship victory Friday night. (Photo: Mike Bitting)
New coach. Some new players. Same old results.
Wharton is headed back to the Class 6A boys basketball final four for the second straight season after dominating Charlotte 52-35 Friday night.
The Wildcats (24-6) will take on Palm Beach Dwyer (27-1) in their semifinal on Thursday, March 2 at either 6 or 8 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.
“It’s a great feeling,” said first-year coach and former Wharton star Shawn Vanzant, considered the best player in the program’s history. “I never made it as a player (although he did make it to the NCAA Final Four as a player for Butler University). I took over this year and a lot of guys didn’t know me. It took a while to bond, but once we got that camaraderie going, it’s been an amazing ride. I’m real proud of these boys.”
The Wildcats got three-pointers early from Lucean Milligan and Jayson Montgomery to take a 6-0 lead, and it wasn’t until 40 seconds were remaining in the first quarter that Charlotte scored its first basket.
When Milligan had to leave the game with early foul trouble, Christian Ayala came off the bench to sink two more three-pointers, and finished with eight points in the first half as Wharton opened up a 21-11 halftime lead.
“I might not have started, but I brought that will to get in the game and do whatever I could,” Ayala said. “I guarded, I knocked down a couple of threes, that’s what I do. It created some momentum, and the second half we had to just had to keep the foot on the gas pedal.”
“Christian is a big part of the team,” Vanzant said. “He’s a senior, great leadership, next-guy-up mentality. I know when I put Christian in the game, he’s going to make big plays.”
Charlotte shot only 4-for-18 in the first half, and by the time it started shooting better it was too late. The Wildcats opened the second half with a Chandler Davis bucket (off a Montgomery steal), and Mike Warnock made a trey to bump the lead to 26-11.
The Tarpons (16-14) made a run towards the end of the third quarter, but the Wildcats closed the quarter with an 8-0 run (thanks to three-pointers from Davis and Milligan) to make it 39-24 and out of reach as the defense clamped down.
“The game plan was to play defense and rebound because we were outsized a little bit,” Davis said. “They were bigger, but we held out ground..”
Charlotte’s frontline of Kirby Schmitz (6-foot-7), Chris Cornish (6-5) and John Gamble (6-6) combined to average 40 points this year, but were held to a total of 15 points by Wharton’s big men Karmello Branch and Davis, as well as sterling perimeter defense by the guards.
Carlos Nesbitt converts an alley-oop pass from Trent Lincoln in the second quarter of the Class 6A state semifinals in Lakeland Thursday night. Wharton fell 52-47 to Martin County. (Photos: Charmaine George)
For three quarters of Thursday’s Class 6A State semifinal clash with Martin County, Wharton High looked like the better basketball team. The Wildcats’ defense was just a little bit better, the offense was more accurate shooting the ball and Wharton always seemed on the verge of a putting the Tigers in a hole so deep they wouldn’t be able to climb out of it.
Then, in less than a minute, everything changed, and Wharton saw its hopes of advancing to the first State championship game in school history evaporate.
Led by a trio of seniors and a stifling press, Martin County (26-4) turned the game in their favor to start the fourth quarter and the Wildcats never recovered, falling 52-47 at the RP Lending Center in Lakeland.
Martin County’s Jayden Pressey, who was 0-for-6 from three-point range, buried a wide-open triple from the corner to start the fourth quarter, and the Tigers began pressing, and a slew of Wildcat turnovers and mistakes followed. The Tigers made free throws and another bucket inside, and in 57 seconds had spun off an 8-2 run to give Martin County a 39-36 advantage with 7:03 remaining in the game.
Wharton’s Trent Lincoln drives to the hoop in the first half.
The Wildcats, who finished 28-3, never led again.
“We weren’t in our press attack alignment,” Wharton coach Tommy Tonelli said. “and we had some guys out of position in the process. That’s it. It’s that simple. We had a plan, we knew what we wanted to do, we knew what they were running, we just didn’t get guys in the right spot. It just made it that much more difficult to execute what we needed to do.”
The press overwhelmed Wharton, which already had 13 turnovers heading into the last quarter but committed seven more with the heat turned up.
“When we were able to get the ball out of (Wharton point guard Trent Lincoln’s) hands, they got a little helter-skelter,” said Martin County coach John Leon. “We had to take a chance with the press. If we hadn’t, I’d be kicking myself.”
Pressey had all nine of his points in the fourth quarter, including a bullish drive to the basket to give Martin County a 45-39 lead with four minutes left. Another Pressey basket off a turnover stretched the Tigers’ lead to 49-41.
Ryan Davis, a thorn in the Wildcats’ side all night, led Martin County with 18 points and seven assists.
After shooting just 24 percent in the first half, the Tigers shot 67 percent in the second half, and were scorching hot in the fourth quarter, making 8 of 10 shots.
Wharton guard Lucean Milligan is fouled in the second quarter, and made both his free throws to give the Wildcats a 16-13 lead.
For three quarters, however, it looked like it might be Wharton’s night. They held the Tigers to one basket in the first quarter and led 8-3, and behind strong play from seniors Trevor Dyson and Carlos Nesbitt, forged a 16-15 lead at the half.
The third quarter was back and forth, and midway through, Chandler Davis canned a three-pointer and gave Wharton its biggest lead, 29-22, of the night.
However, despite eight points in the quarter from Dyson, Martin County was able to rally and keep it close heading to the fateful fourth.
Dyson, who was 4 of 6 from three-point range, and Davis, a junior, each scored 16 points to lead Wharton.
Dyson added 11 rebounds, while Nesbitt chipped in seven points and eight rebounds. Both seniors played all 32 minutes.
“I told the guys afterwards they exceeded my wildest expectations,” Tonelli said. “Not that I didn’t think they were capable. We were Conference champs, District champs and Region champs. The only goal we fell short of was being State champs. But there’s a lot of guys that play basketball and can’t say they are any of those things.”
Tommy Tonelli celebrates his second region championship Friday night. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
When you play a great basketball game for Wharton’s Tommy Tonelli, you will receive praise, a high five and maybe even a hug from the coach.
When you play arguably the greatest basketball game for Tonelli, you get something even better.
The Griddy dance.
Yes, Wharton was that good Friday night, beating Sumner in the Class 6 region championship by a resounding score of 50-11 and turning in a defensive effort so impressive that even old school coaches like Tonelli are compelled afterwards to perform the latest dance craze at center court in front of his joyous players.
The win propels the Wildcats (28-2) to the state final four for the first time since 2013, and only second time overall. Wharton will play Martin County Thursday at 6 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland in one 6A semifinal, with Winter Haven and Ponte Verde squaring off in the other semifinal.
The Griddy dance. (Photo: Charmaine George)
While the Wildcats were expected by most to win Friday’s game, no one envisioned holding Sumner to 11 points. Three Wildcat players — Trevor Dyson, Chandler Davis and Lucean Milligan — each scored that many or more by themselves.
“That’s amazing,” said senior Carlos Nesbitt, who scored 10 points for the Wildcats. “We pride ourselves on our defense, and tonight we just executed the game plan. That’s what we do, we’re known for our defense.”
But, 11 points?
Trevor Dyson takes on four Stingrays for two of his team-high 13 points. (Photo: Charmaine George)
“I don’t know if we expected that,” said Dyson, a senior forward who led the Wildcats with 13 points and had a huge game on the boards.
This is the kind of night it was for Sumner: After guard Tyrell Smith took a pass along the baseline and swished a tough fall away jumper over the outstretched hands of a Wharton defender to give the Stingrays a 2-0 lead, Tonelli turned to one of the referees and said “If they keep making those kind of shots, we’re in for a long night.”
Sumner made only four more baskets all game.
The 11 points were the fewest ever allowed by Wharton in a playoff game, and was 27 points less than Sumner’s worst game of a season, a 45-38 loss to Bloomingdale, whose coach, Wharton hoops legend Shawn Vanzant, might have learned a few things about defense in his time as a Wildcat.
Wharton came into the game allowing only 44 ppg. In three state playoff wins, they are allowing only 28.6.
After Sumner’s game-opening basket, Wharton scored the next 12 points as Dyson hit a three-pointer, Davis blocked a shot and got the ball back on the break for a lay-in, and point guard Trent Lincoln found Nesbitt for an alley-oop jam.
Tonelli said it was the best game of Nesbitt’s career.
“He did everything on both ends of the court, things you don’t even see,” Tonelli said. “He was the unsung hero.”
Following a Sumner basket to make it 12-4, Wharton went on another run, this time scoring the next 14 points, including three consecutive three-pointers in a span of 2 minutes, 30 seconds in the second quarter by Milligan, twice, and Davis.
And the rout was on. By halftime, the Wharton lead had ballooned to 30-6.
“The three-pointers got us hyped,” said Davis. “And on defense, we just locked them up. They had six points at halftime, and we were hitting our shots. They’re a good team, but we played great defense.”
Even with a 30-6 lead, Tonelli says the Wildcats were taking nothing for granted. However, Sumner only scored twice in the second half, and didn’t even score in the fourth quarter, missing all 13 of their three-point attempts for the game.
Tonelli hugs his wife Kristin after the Wildcat win. (Photo: Charmaine George)
It was easier than Tonelli thought it would be. The night before the game, he woke up in a full sweat, and had to get up and change his clothes. The game, and the quickness of the Sumner guards and its height in the post, was weighing so heavily on him, his wife Kristin said she thought he might be having a heart attack.
But she also said it was nothing new. Tonelli is the ultimate tactician, and had prepared non-stop for the Stingrays.
“We watch film every day ,” said Lincoln, the point guard. “We probably watch more film than anyone. We knew their plays. We knew what was coming. We were prepared. We have to thank coach for that.”
Dyson and Nesbitt, a pair of 6-4 forwards, controlled the boards, despite going up against Christian Henley, listed as a 7-footer, and 6-5 D.J. Jones.
Henley was shut out, and Jones had a single basket.
“The coaches told us we were going up against some tall players,” said Dyson, smiling. “But I wanted to show them who the big dog was.”
The last time Wharton won a regional championship, the Wildcats needed a miracle. After making Wharton’s C.J McGill made a free throw with six seconds left, Orlando University rushed down the court and hit a three-pointer from the corner as the buzzer sounded. After a huddle by the officials, a few moments that Tonelli says were the most agonizing of his coaching career, they determined the shot was taken a micro second after the clock expired.
Friday’s win was almost anti-climatic.
“I’d rather win a game this way,” Tonelli said, a wide grin flashing across his face.
Zach Karikas, a Freedom High grad, receives his award from New Tampa YMCA sports and teen program director Eamonn O’Sullivan. (Photo provided by the YMCA)
For the past five years, Zach Karikas has been a fixture at the New Tampa Family YMCA in Tampa Palms. If there was a youth league basketball game going on, Karikas was almost definitely there. Prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, he was a volunteer coach for four different teams in the league, which included the 7-8, 9-10, 11-12 and 13-15 age groups.
When the gym at the New Tampa Y opened again for limited 3-on-3 leagues in the fall, Karikas continued coaching. The 5-on-5 leagues finally started up again in January.
Karikas, 28, was recognized for his dedication when he was awarded the 2021 New Tampa Family YMCA Volunteer of the Year award. He received the honor from Sports Director Eamonn O’Sullivan in a virtual ceremony held in late March.
“I didn’t even know the Y did a Volunteer of the Year,’’ said a surprised Karikas, who adds that he has always loved basketball, even if he wasn’t particularly good at it.
A 2011 graduate of Freedom High, also in Tampa Palms, he said he tried out for the basketball team all four years and was cut every year.
He went off to Marshall University in West Virginia to pursue a degree in athletic training. When that didn’t work out, Karikas left Marshall in 2013 to return to Wesley Chapel. A few years later, he wanted to apply for a college scholarship and one requirement was community service hours. That’s when he started volunteer coaching at the YMCA despite not having any kids of his own.
Zach Karikas
At first, he coached just one team. But, that quickly became four teams.
“I just fell in love with it,’’ he says.
He currently is enrolled at Pasco-Hernando State College and his full-time job right now is installing shower doors. Ultimately, Karikas says he would like to earn a degree in sports management and coach basketball at either the high school or middle school level. It’s a passion he discovered five years ago at the New Tampa Family YMCA.
“I caught the coaching bug,’’ Karikas says. “I really enjoy coaching the youth, both on and off the court, showing them that you don’t have to be Lebron James to succeed on or off the court. It’s not always going to be sunshine and rainbows — there are ups and downs. You just have to keep going with whatever you want to do. Being a positive role model is a good feeling. Right when I walk into that gym I’ve got like five kids coming up to me and saying ‘Hey, coach Zach.’ I love the ability to give back to the younger generation.’’
For more information about the New Tampa Family YMCA, located at 16221 Compton Dr., call (813) 866-9622 or visit TampaYMCA.org.
The Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. already has basketball courts outside, but once the county’s 18,000-sq.-ft. indoor facility at the park has been completed, it will provide and indoor home for those who want to play hoops and other sports that are often difficult to play outside with Florida’s unpredictable weather. (Photos: John C. Cotey)
The new indoor sports and recreation center being built by Pasco County at the Wesley Chapel District Park (WCDP) will have indoor courts for basketball, volleyball, pickleball and other sports, plus the flexibility to host meetings in additional rooms and the opportunity for summer camps. That may not be all that unique for such a facility, but this is:
It’s going to finish on time.
The Neighborhood News went on a recent tour of the new $4.8-million facility, which Pasco County project manager Curtis Franklin proudly says will open as expected in June. That’s big news coming off a year where so many projects have been slowed due to Covid-influenced difficulties in getting building materials on time.
“If you get this done by June, I really need to get you on more projects,” District 2 Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore quipped.
Pasco Commissioner Mike Moore tried out his slapshot at the Tampa Bay Lightning-funded outdoor roller rink during a recent tour of the county’s new indoor gymnasium at WCDP.
The new facility, located at 7727 Boyette Rd., has gone vertical and is taking shape. Located right next to the Tampa Bay Lightning street hockey rink — Comm. Moore and parks director Keith Wiley fired a few shots before the tour (and we can neither confirm nor deny whether they put any in between the pipes) — the long-awaited recreation facility will have 18,000 square feet of indoor space, including 10,000 for a court that will be used for a variety of indoor sports.
The court is large enough for a regulation size basketball court and can be converted to two 3/4 length perpendicular basketball courts for youth leagues, two volleyball courts or six pickleball courts. Cheerleading and dance also can be held inside, and plans also may include indoor soccer, also known as futsal.
With the push of a button, a partition can even separate the gymnasium in two, allowing for a multi-purpose room on one side and a court on the other.
The facility will use the additional 8,000 square feet of space for two multipurpose rooms (one of them large enough to convert to two rooms) for meetings, as well as a full kitchen and offices.
The facility opens up in the back to a large seating area overlooking a grassy area, which can accommodate parties, small concerts and even movies in the park.
With the new gymnasium, plus tennis courts, 20 fields for soccer, lacrosse and flag football fields, a first-of-its-kind inclusive playground for children with disabilities, a regular playground, the Lightning street hockey rink, fishing, fitness trails, picnic areas, a pavilion and still plenty of leftover space on its 144 acres, WCDP will be the premier park in Pasco County.
“This is kind of the model for future district parks,” Wiley said during our tour.
The facility at WCDP also will be able to host summer camps, which will be a big deal, Wiley says. Currently, campers hoping to take part in the county’s popular summer programs have to drive to the Land O’Lakes Recreation Complex on Collier Pkwy., which Wiley says fills up within minutes once registration is opened each year.
Meanwhile, the much larger Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, located just a few miles south of WCDP, was completed in July as a public-private partnership between the county and RADDSports, Moore says, but the new indoor facility at WCDP will serve a different audience.
The future front entrance to the indoor gym at WCDP.
“When it comes to the county, tourism has always been the focus for Wiregrass Ranch — holding events and bringing people into town on weekends who will be spending money in the community,” Moore says. “This is more for local residents, a place for the community to congregate.”
Wiley said the county’s Parks & Recreation Dept. controls six sites for future parks in Pasco County, and three of those will be built in Wesley Chapel in the areas of future master planned developments in Wyndfields, Two Rivers and the Village of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) once concurrency calls for it and the funding can be found.
Those three projects will add a combined 50,000 or so homes to Wesley Chapel. Those projects, however, are years away from being built.
Until then, WCDP’s expansion will widen the scope of what can be offered to Wesley Chapel residents.
“The gymnasium was always the plan (when the park was originally built), we just needed to get the funding,” Wiley said. “The more residents, the more services you need, and Wesley Chapel is booming.”
