Host team knocks off No. 1 Cedar Hill in tournament final

01:28 AM CST on Thursday, December 30, 2004
By BOB THOMPSON / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

PLANO – Just minutes after the final horn in the championship game of the Plano Wildcat Holiday Classic, Plano coach Tom Inman ditched his dress shirt and tie in favor of a Hawaiian-style shirt.

After Plano thoroughly frustrated top-ranked Cedar Hill in a 47-38 upset victory Wednesday night to win its own tournament for the first time since 2001, no one could blame Inman and his players for being in a festive mood.

Junior guard Joseph Fulce scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the second half, and Eric Zastoupil added 13 for Plano.

Employing its matchup-zone defense, Plano took away Cedar Hill's inside game, forcing it to try to win the game from the perimeter. Cedar Hill struggled from long range, making just one of 16 attempts from 3-point distance.

"The main thing we've been worrying about is our defense," said Fulce, who was named the tournament's most valuable player. "We didn't want to give them easy baskets. If they were going to beat us, they were going to have to do it from the outside, and they weren't knocking shots down."

With two freshmen in the starting lineup, Cedar Hill looked out of sync offensively. The No. 1 team in the latest Texas Association of Basketball Coaches' Class 5A poll scored only three points in the first quarter and managed four field goals in the first half, and one was a 3-pointer at the buzzer by senior guard Elijah Brydson. Plano took a 19-16 halftime lead and began to pull away in the third, outscoring Cedar Hill 16-8 in the quarter.

Cedar Hill (16-2) got 10 points from freshman guard Willie Warren but contributed to its demise by missing 10 of 21 free throws.

"It's ugly basketball if all you want to see is 3s and dunks, but those were two pretty good defensive teams going at it," said Inman, whose team improved to 14-3. "I'm just proud of our kids for keeping their composure and finishing it off because [Cedar Hill is] very athletic, and they brought the heat defensively there at the end."

South Grand Prairie finishes in third place

South Grand Prairie guard Toreyan Burns didn't light up the scoreboard in the tournament, but as he's done all year, the 6-1 senior hit big shots when his team needed them most. It was Burns' jumper with 44.6 seconds to play that proved to be the game-winner as South Grand Prairie knocked off North Mesquite, 51-49, to capture third place in the tournament. In three games, Burns averaged 12.3 points, which was good enough to land on the all-tournament team.

"He's one of our seniors that really has given us some leadership in those close games," South Grand Prairie coach Mike Rogers said. "He's hit some big free throws and clutch shots. When he takes that mid-range jumper, he knocks it down pretty consistently."

Plano Classic MVP: Joseph Fulce, Jr., Plano

PLANO CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Player	School	Class
Brandon Ware	Plano	Jr.
Eddie Gloviak	Rockwall	Jr.
Austin Jackson	Denton Ryan	Sr.
Michael Bertrand	Lake Highlands	Jr.
Josh Hutchins	Mesquite	Sr.
Toreyan Burns	South Grand Prairie	Sr.
Stephen Thomas	North Mesquite	So.
Bishop Wheatley	Cedar Hill	Sr.
Elijah Brydson	Cedar Hill	Sr.