Gonzalez's late plays lift Spring Creek

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on January 10, 2015 11:52 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Brandon Gonzalez was off all night.

Spring Creek's senior point guard spent 31/2 quarters missing the shots he was accustomed to making. The transition layups, floaters in the lane and step-back 3s that make him such a dangerous weapon for the Gators just weren't falling.

That didn't stop him from trying, though.

With 50.1 seconds left and Spring Creek down one, his perseverance finally paid off. Gonzalez hit the go-ahead layup and then stole an inbounds pass with 5 seconds left to seal a 56-53 win over Carolina 1-A rival Rosewood on Friday evening.

Gary Williams scored 15 points for Spring Creek, which improved to 11-2 overall and 4-0 in conference play. Chad Spurgeon and Justin Cianfarra scored 10 points apiece.

SC head coach Taylor Jones credited Cianfarra's play.

"Without Justin Cianfarra tonight, we don't win," he said. "I hate to put it on one person... but Justin started for us tonight -- he usually comes off the bench -- and I thought he was just terrific tonight."

The loss was painful for Rosewood, which squandered multiple chances to put the game away. The Eagles led at halftime, but returned to the court flat and allowed 35 second-half points, including 21 in the fourth quarter.

Zack Barnes carried the Eagles offensively with 19 points -- 15 from behind the 3-point arc. Six-foot-4 Dennis Mitchell, one of Rosewood's primary scoring options in the paint, had a quiet 15 points.

"We tried to get him the ball down low," said RHS head coach Daniel Mitchell, whose team fell to 7-5 overall and 3-2 in the league. "But Spring Creek did a good job of sinking in the paint and trying to take that away. I thought they did a pretty good job defensively of taking away what we were trying to do."

Both coaches talked at length about how the game lived up to their expectations as a hardfought, high-intensity game. Tempers got the best of both teams early. A shoving match in the first minute of the game resulted in the ejection of Spring Creek starter Jordan Hicks as well as a fan.

"That was like a championship-level game," Taylor said. "You've got two teams going back and forth and neither is going to quit. When you have a lot of seniors and older guys, you kind of expect those things. (Protecting your home court) ... that's what you have to do. You have to make plays in the fourth quarter.

"It's winning time. You have to make plays."