If there is one thing that the basketball team at Winter Park has shown over the course of the 2009-10 season, it’s that the Wildcats are a deep team that doesn’t rely solely on the play of star junior Austin Rivers.

Winter Park proved that yet again last week when Dr. Phillips paid a visit and were turned away 66-56 even as Rivers missed the entire fourth quarter due to foul trouble. It was his first game back after sitting out two previous outings because of an ankle injury.

Austin Rivers (left) and Shane Larkin

The matchup between arguably the two best teams in the area was a tight one throughout.

Winter Park built a 21-13 lead after the first quarter because of tight defense and opportunistic rebounding. They then carried a 37-30 lead into the halftime break after too many missed opportunities late in the second quarter cost the Panthers.

With a two-point lead heading into the fourth, 49-47, the Wildcats turned more miscues on behalf of Dr. Phillips into points on the other end of the floor to essentially put the game away.

“We stepped it up a little bit on the defensive end,” said Winter Park coach David Bailey. “We forced them into some tough shots and then were able to get the rebound and push the ball in transition to get some easy baskets.”

Slowing down Dr. Phillips standout guard Shane Larkin was no easy task though, as the junior went for a game-high 25 points in the loss. But if anybody else was paying attention to this particular game, then they came away from it realizing that if keying in on Rivers is the game plan that they best be prepared to get familiar with the supporting cast.

Brett Comer (#3) and James Ferrell

Brett Comer, who lost his father to cancer earlier that morning, finished with 16 points to lead Winter Park. Isaac Turner added 15 points to help make up for a frustrating night had by Rivers, who got caught up in foul trouble and had his minutes limited in his return.

In the final quarter it was solid efforts turned in by Comer and Turner, along with John David Swanson, James Ferrell, Adam Jones and Robert Lavaglio which eventually got the job done.

“That’s what you need to be successful,” said Bailey. “You need other guys to step up when it’s their opportunity to shine and those guys are playing with a lot of confidence right now.”

That the Wildcats have proven to be successful without their star player only reassures this team that they can compete with anyone.

“It does a lot for our psyche,” said Bailey. “It shows that we’re a good basketball team when we’re ready to get out there and play, even when one of our guys goes down.”

The entire country will get an up-close look at the Wildcats tonight (Feb. 5) at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 when Winter Park (20-4) takes on Pine Crest (19-2) from Ft. Lauderdale.

– More Winter Park vs. Dr. Phillips –

Video at WFTV