03/11/2006
By Brian Porter , Staff Writer

AUSTIN - AUSTIN - The transformation of Plano from a football mecca into a basketball town is one win away.

"I guess we're putting Plano on the map," Plano post Eric Zastoupil said. "We are one win away."

A desperation Richardson Berkner three-pointer faded wide and into Nate Christian's hands on Friday as Plano defeated Richardson Berkner, 48-45, at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin in a UIL Class 5A boys basketball playoff.

Plano (28-8) will meet Humble Kingwood (36-5) at 8 p.m. today in the Class 5A boys basketball state championship game. Plano West won the Class 5A girls state championship last week, and a victory would give Plano a state title sweep for the first time.

"Seriously, we can't be a basketball town. You can't say that, even if we win," Plano coach Tom Inman counters. "The Plano football team has seven state championships. For a town, maybe there's a point to it. Maybe we are becoming a basketball town."

Plano vaulted to a 22-8 advantage on a play that would have amazed even the Harlem Globetrotters. Joe Fulce scrambled for a loose ball in the Plano front court. He wheeled and dished a behind the back pass to Lawrence Mann for an easy bucket.

Plano was a boys basketball state finalist in 1952 and 1980. Plano also was a girls state finalist in 2000. The campus is 0-3 in state basketball finals.

Perhaps the trend is changing. Plano West returned with a girls state championship last week, after having not ever previously played in a regional championship. Plano believes it can happen for them, as well.

"We've shocked a lot of people," Fulce said. "We believed in ourselves. We believed we could do this all along."