University School soars past Tampa

LAKELAND University School quite literally soared past Tampa Catholic in the school’s first state game. The Sharks were in the air, swooping in for dunk after dunk and layup after layup.

After Tampa Catholic offered little resistance to University, the No. 2-ranked team in the country by USA Today, the Sharks will play in the Class 5A state championship game at 4:30 p.m. today against Ocala Trinity Catholic.

Vernon Carey Jr. had 21 points and 12 rebounds while West Virginia signee Trey Doomes added 20, both barely playing into the second half, as University School cruised 83-48 at RP Funding Center on Wednesday. It was the second-largest margin of victory for the Sharks all season.

“I thought the boys from the jump were very engaged,” University coach Adrian Sosa said. “Defensively, they were in the passing lanes, got out in transition. We had 44 points in the paint in the first half just rebounding, outletting and running the floor.”

The Sharks (30-1) came out sprinting out of the gate. They led 12-2 to start, ended the first quarter up 26-13 and went into the half up 57-27.

Creating fast-break opportunities consistently, the only first-half points for USchool scored outside of the paint or off the free-throw line were a pair of 3-pointers – one by Doomes and another by Logan Alters.s

“[Our game plan was] just not to settle pretty much, just try and dominate in the paint early,” Carey said.

University began running the clock, which occurs when a team has reached a 35-point advantage, at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter. The game was played in under an hour.

“We knew they were good. Maybe we were a little surprised about how good they were,” said Tampa Catholic coach Don Dziagwa.

U-School was previously ranked third in the nation by USA Today, but this week moved up two No. 2 because Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy, the only team to defeat the Sharks this season, was dropped out “because of a fifth-year player, who was a reserve for the Warriors.”

Trinity Catholic, USchool’s opponent in today’s final, beat Pensacola Catholic in the other semifinal on Wednesday.