On Tuesday November 24, 2015 the Virgin Islands Romain Minott-Neufville (with ball) helped his high school team the Clearwater Tornadoes to a 76-68 victory over Tarpon Springs. Photo: Provided

Romain Minott- Neufville played an integral role, especially defensively, as Clearwater Tornados defeated Tarpon Springs 76-68. Photo: Facebook

The Clearwater quartet, Minott- Neufville, Jerryon Johnson, Ryan Ierna and Gene Culver, comprised the main cogs in a decisive stretch of third-quarter defence that shut down Tarpon Springs and opened up a lead as large as 19 points as the Tornadoes eventually won 76-68.

The recipe was simple and relentless, especially after halftime: Double-team the ball, get a steal, throw a long outlet pass and get an easy fast-break layup. Taking turns being stealer and scorer, the Clearwater four forced the Spongers (4-1) into eight turnovers and held the hosts scoreless for a 4:20 stretch that extended the lead of the Tornadoes (2-0) from six to 19 at 58-39.

"I thought we did pretty well in the third quarter," Clearwater coach Thomas Shaneyfelt said. "(Tarpon) was getting a little tired, our depth got to them, and that's the plan."

"We put a lot of work in on playing as a team, especially on defense," said Minott-Neufville, who had 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals. "That's exactly what we want to do as a team, work hard on our defense."

"It's amazing," said Ierna, who had a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. "We just want to keep the team rolling and push the ball off of our defense."

The first half was a feeling-out process for both teams as Tarpon rode solid offense from Donald Davis (team-high 15 points) and Jerome Fowler (10 points and 13 boards) to lead much of the first quarter.

A pair of deep 3-pointers from Culver (15 points) gave the Tornadoes the lead for good early in the second quarter, but DeAndre Hopkins (12 points) hit a 3-pointer to keep the Spongers within three points at the break.

In the fourth quarter, Israel Atkins (nine of his 12 points) seized on a time-siphoning set offense from Clearwater to get Tarpon as close as six (69-63) with two minutes left but the Spongers got no closer.

"Defensively, on a 10 scale, I'd say we'd played at a six," Minott-Neufville said. "That's how much we have to grow."