Belardo, Sosa Lead Travel Team to Elite 8
Apr 21, 2008
By: Ed Auricchio
On Friday afternoon, five airplanes coming from Boston, Charlotte, Rochester, San Juan and Miami, taxied into Houston's Bush International Airport carrying members of the Miami Tropics 2008 NIKE travel team. It was the first time the players laid eyes on each other and in 17 hours they would join forces to represent the organization in their first tournament of the the season.
One would think that without a single practice or walk through that any success would be possible but the Tropics have always seem to excel in these situations and last weekend was no exception.
Led by holdovers Gaby Belardo and Isaac Sosa, the team advanced to the Elite 8 of the prestigeous Kingwood Classic in Houston, Texas before bowing out of the tournament.
The backcourt mates lit it up in front of a slew of collegiate coaches and managed to claim more than a dozen scholarship offers each before they called it a weekend. On Saturday evening when their final game ended at 12:35 AM, there were more than a dozen schools represented, following their every move.
Belardo averaged 18.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while Sosa checked in at 17.7 and 5.1. Sosa was paricularly game, considering this was his first action since the horrific injury he suffered in the FHSAA regional championship game while leading Grandview Prep to the state final four. He fought through pain and fatigue to post a huge statline.
Lakeland's Richie Edwards averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 rebounds, playing well in five of the six outings. Forced to play more on the inside because of the absence of 7-2 junior Fabricio DeMelo, Edwards logged a lot of action, often giving up 3-4 inches and 25-30 pounds on the interior.
A big plus to the effort was the play of Dr. Krop's Anton Fortunato, who displayed an all around game worthy of the Division-1 coaches attention. The 6-6 senior will get his share of offers in the coming weeks.
Junior Raymond Cintron returned to the States from Puerto Rico and picked up where he left off as an 2006 all county selection at LaSalle High School in Miami. Cintron showed an array of offensive skills and a physical toughness, particularly on the defensive end.
Elvis Baez, Heberto Guanipa, Alex Richman, Christian and Christopher Ortiz and Jonathan Monrouzeau all had their moments and will look to contribute more as the season moves on.
"I was really proud of the kids," said head coach Art "Pilin" Alvarez, "with zero preparation they played extremely well. I couldn't be happier! Our only losses came to the two teams that played for the Kingwood Crown."
The team will travel to Starkville, MS for this weekends Big Shots - Mississippi Classic with some added manpower. 7-2 junior Fabricio DeMelo, 6-2 senior Marlon Rivera and 6-3 junior Quinton Everett all figure to make their 2008 Tropics debut in the tournament.
KINGWOOD RESULTS (4-2)
Tropics 71 Carolina Raptors (NC) 55
Sosa 21 pts, 5 reb, 3 assts; Edwards 18 pts, 7 rebs, 2 blks; Baez 11 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assts; Cintron 10 pts, 5 rebs, 2 stls
Howard Pulley Panthers (MN) 80 Tropics 64
Belardo 23 pts, 5 rebs; Edwards 17 pts, 5 rebs; Sosa 16 pts, 3 rebs, 3 stls
Tropics 69 Team Shockaz (LA) 62
Belardo 19 pts, 3 assts, 4 stls; Sosa 16 pts, 12 rebs, 4 assts, Edwards 11 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assts
Tropics 62 Gold Coast (FL) 61 (OT)
Belardo 22 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assts; Edwards 16 pts, 4 rebs; Sosa 15 pts, 3 rebs
Tropics 64 Georgia Stars 60
Belardo 17 pts, 4 rebs, 3 assts; Sosa 13 pts 6 rebs; Edwards 12 pts, 3 stls; Fortunato 7 pts, 9 rebs, 4 assts
Team Jones (OR) 69 Tropics 57
Sosa 25 pts; Belardo 22 pts, 5 rebs, Fortunato 4 pts, 9 rebs, 3 assts
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