Rickards takes state win

LAKELAND — In Webster’s Dictionary, perfection is defined as: “Somebody or something that reaches the highest attainable standard.”

For the 2009-10 Rickards High boys basketball team, the word “perfection” surely applies, as on March 4, they completed a dream season with a 70-46 rout of two-time defending Class 3A state champion Pine Crest High of Fort Lauderdale in the state title game here in the Lakeland Center. The title is the third all-time for Rickards High (27-0), which brought home state championships in Class 4A in 1976 and 1992.

Last Thursday’s win capped the fifth appearance all-time for Rickards in the State Final Four, and it erased the memories of their more recent trips – in 2001 and 2005 – that ended just shy of the championship game. Rickards reached the 2010 title game with a resounding 69- 45 win over Avon Park in the Class 3A semifinals.

Despite being undefeated and ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, the Raiders were still considered a huge underdog against the No. 1-ranked Panthers (25-5). Yet, this singular band of youngsters didn’t waver from their season-long goal – winning the state title, battling valiantly in the face of a huge crowd of Pine Crest supporters, who did their best from the grandstands to get Rickards off their game.

“It didn’t affect us at all because we’ve been playing against big crowds all year,” said Rickards’ Jakari Bush after the game. The Raiders capped their resounding triumph by utilizing their signature defensive excellence to all but shut down the Panthers in the second half, doing a spectacular job on Pine Crest’s star guard Brandon Knight, a McDonald’s All-American and considered one of the nation’s top college prospects, holding him to 18 points.

When asked after the game what impressed him the most about Rickards, Knight said: “They were a passionate team from the first through the fourth quarter.”

One man who was not the least surprised at the ultimate victory to cap a fantastic season was Rickards head coach Eli Bryant. “In all honesty, it’s what we expected,” said Bryant just moments after his team locked up the coveted state title. “No. 1 player in the nation or not, we had the better team. Our guys (Rickards) just came out to play.”

Avery Moore led Rickards with 23 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jakari Bush had 17 points, five assists and three steals, Terry Johnson had 16 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Raiders, while Chris Bryant added eight points, six rebounds and three blocks.

Rickards fell behind 10-4 in the first quarter, but came back to tie it up 11-11 on a basket by Chris Bryant in the final minute. Pine Forest went on a 7-0 run in the opening minutes of the second quarter to take an 18-11 lead, but Johnson helped Rickards close the gap to 18-17 with two consecutive three-pointers with five minutes left in the half. Rickards took the lead, 19- 18 on a Fred Griggs a steal and basket with 4:45 remaining. Moore then took charge, scoring eight points in the last two minutes of the quarter to give Rickards a 29-25 halftime lead.

“I think when I first came out I was too anxious,” Moore said. “Then Coach Avery (Curry) told me, ‘Keep shooting. Play your game.’” Part of the Raiders’ “game” was their heralded man-to- man defense, which really went to work in the second half, holding the high-flying Panthers to just 21 points, while the Raiders caught fire offensively, scoring 41 points in the final two quarters to turn the game into a rout.

“Each and every night, in order to get on the court for Rickards, you must play defense,” Johnson said. “We had to keep the intensity throughout the game.” After the game, Coach Bryant, the architect of Rickards’ perfect season beamed with pride after the title win, humbly deflecting any praise for himself and showering it instead on his players.

Bryant, who has been with the Rickards program since 1987, and was an assistant coach for the 1992 state championship, reflected on the 2010 squad. “This year’s team is the greatest bunch of kids anybody could ever work with, Bryant said. “This team mirrors that (1992) team somewhat.” But Bryant summed it up saying: “This is a better team. This is a team with no jealousy. A totally unselfish group of kids that had one common goal.”