Kowboys, Dogs to raise funds for Haiti tonight

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Kowboys, Dogs to raise funds for Haiti tonight

Sports

Friday, 22 January 2010 08:31

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
Two of the county’s hottest boys basketball teams square off tonight at 7:30 p.m. at St. Cloud when Osceola visits.
The Kowboys, 16-2, out-lasted Winter Haven, 48-44, in 5A District 6 Thursday at the OHS gym. Osceola boosted its district record to 10-0 and clinched the first-round bye in the district tournament next month.
St. Cloud, 10-5, smashed New Dimensions, 80-48, and won for the seventh time in eight games Thursday. The Tigers, who beat St. Cloud last month, slipped to 10-4.
James Boone had 25 and David Ortiz added 14 for the Bulldogs.
St. Cloud Coach Tim McMullen is asking fans of both teams to donate money for Haiti’s earthquake victims.
“We’re calling it the Showdown for Haiti,” McMullen said. “Cheerleaders from both teams will be set up at donation stations, and both schools can monitor the donations. Let’s see who has the most generous fans.”
Osceola misfired on its first 14 three-point attempts Thursday and was 0-for-11 in the first half. The Kowboys shot just 27 percent from the field in an ugly first half, when they led, 19-12.
“It can’t get much worse,” OHS Coach Steve Mason said.
But, it almost did. Winter Haven, which scored just 21 points over the first three quarters, more than doubled that in the final period, hitting 11-of-16 from the free throw line, to pull within two points, 44-42. Osceola’s Brenton Williams (14) and Michael Sanchez (11) combined to hit six free throws in the final minute to provide the winning points.
Winter Haven, which slipped to 10-7 and 5-6 in the district, was led by Greg Borders (14).
Mason was disappointed in his team’s offensive performance, but he was pleased with the way it kept fighting through its problems.
“You have nights like that in basketball when you just don’t have it, but I told the team after the game that a sign of a good team is when it is not your best night and you find a way to win anyway.”
McMullen said his Bulldogs are playing their best basketball of the season.
“We had a big win over South Lake last week, who had beaten Olympia the night before,” he said. “We’re playing really well right now. We’ve been hitting our free throws, and that’s huge for us. But, we’ll know a lot more after we see Osceola. This is a big game for us.”
New Dimensions Coach Ryan Adams said his team took a lesson from St. Cloud Thursday.
“They were ready for us, and they played extremely well,” Adams said. “Now, we’ll get back to work and see what we can do to fix some of the problems we had.”