Late Missed Shots Doom Braden River Boys

For the first six minutes of the fourth quarter Thursday, Braden River shooters found plenty of open space — under the basket, around the free-throw line and beyond the 3-point arc.

But they missed shots during that span. All of them. And Braden River fell to Tampa Jesuit 38-27 in Thursday's Class 4A-Region 3 quarterfinal.

“We just didn't make shots,” Braden River coach Matt Nesser said. “Someone told me years ago, whoever puts the ball in the hoop more than the other team wins.”

With 4:30 remaining and Braden River down three, Jesuit's Joey Galvis scored nine unanswered points: he made a layup, 3-pointer and four-point play in a two-minute span to put the Tigers up 33-21.

Galvis led Jesuit with 12 points.

Braden River, which scored two points in the second quarter, was led by Trevon Young's 11 points.

Tre Bryant added 10 points, including three 3-pointers, for the Pirates.

Although Braden River found many scoring funks, it went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to pull within one point of Jesuit. Bryant completed a four-point play during the three-minute span.

Most of the points were set up by Braden River's full-court press that led to steals and layups or open jumpers.

“We've been in that position before,” Jesuit coach Neal Goldman said of Braden River's run.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, they could not stay in the stifling defense. They often had to pull back to half court.

“We had to do that in spurts because we don't play a lot of guys,” Nesser said. “So to press and run and jump, we don't have a strong enough rotation with seven guys. We also need to make shots. Whenever we make shots we can get into the press.”

Jesuit                8  10  6  14 — 38
Braden River   8   2  11   6 — 27

JESUIT (38) — Massaro 1 0-0 3, Fleming 3 2-2 9, Galvis 4 2-4 12, Clonts 0 2-2 2, Johnson 3 4-5 10, Bradley 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 10-13 38. 3-pointers: Galvis 2, Flemins 1, Masssaro 1.

BRADEN RIVER (27) — Bryant 3 1-1 10, Foster 2 0-1 4, Ross 1 0-0 2, Young 5 1-4 11. Totals: 11 2-6 27. 3-pointers: Bryant 3.