Tampa Catholic drains thirteen 3-pointers in rout of Gateway Charter in Class 3A, Region 3 semifinal

The Crusaders led by 21 at halftime and never looked back and now will face district rival Brooks-DeBartolo in region final

TAMPA, Fla.- It was raining down 3-pointers in the Kevin Knox II Fieldhouse on Tuesday night. 

In a Class 3A, Region 3 semifinal, Tampa Catholic looked to making the one extra pass to find open shooters from the perimeter. That mindset provided the Crusaders with the path to reach the region final on Friday night against Brooks-DeBartolo, a 78-68 winner over Clearwater Calvary Christian. 

Tampa Catholic's shooters knocked down thirteen shots from downtown en route to defeating Gateway Charter 76-54 on Don Dziagwa Court. 

"We'll take it," Dziagwa said about the hot start his team got out to. "(Christian Cole) really got us going. (Gateway Charter) had a long trip coming up from Fort Myers and it was important to start off strong. We talk about the first four minutes of a ball game and the last four minutes of a half or the game. I thought we did a really good job with steals and stretching it out to twenty something at half."

From beginning to end, it looked like the Crusaders were determined to challenge Gateway from deep. The game's first three baskets were all 3-pointers from junior guard Christian Cole, who ended the night with 12 points. 

After withstanding the initial 9-0 burst from Tampa Catholic (18-10), Gateway Charter scored its initial basket. The Griffins (23-6) just could never get the game back under control and into single digits. 

Every time Jahmari Johnson, who scored a team-high 22 points for Gateway Charter, would get the Griffins within 12, would wound up seeing the Crusaders' lead once again balloon. It ended up being a late second half run that would turn the contest into a rout heading into intermission. 

Karter Knox scored 12 of his 18 points in the second quarter, knocked down multiple 3-pointers before fellow teammates Michael Drayton (nine points) and Isaiah Campbell-Finch (15 points) added deep shots of their own. By halftime, the Crusaders owned a commanding 49-28 lead after going on a 13-3 run to end the period. 

The second half featured much of the same from the opening two quarters, with the Griffins never really threatening the Crusaders' insurmountable lead. By late in the third quarter, Tampa Catholic's lead had grown to 30-plus points. 

Something Dziagwa continues to drive home to his team is the overall level of difficulty when it came to the regular season schedule. The Crusaders played a bevy of the state's toughest teams throughout the season, with 17 opponents still playing in the postseason currently that were on Tampa Catholic's schedule. 

"I told our players yesterday of the teams we've played and there were three teams that didn't make it into the playoffs," Dziagwa said. "Right now, there's seventeen of our opponents that are still playing tonight. Two of them in Georgia. One of them up in Philadelphia. Leesburg, Oak Ridge, IMG Academy. All of these teams are still playing."

Tampa Catholic now hosts a Brooks-DeBartolo team they defeated in the Class 3A, District 9 tournament 81-74. Now the teams will face off again for a second time on Friday night at home. 

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.