TAMPA — After nationally-ranked IMG Academy’s physicality turned a fairly tight game into a rout Tuesday, an energetic Berkeley Prep squad made intelligent and athletic plays the next night to grab a double-digit advantage on rival Tampa Catholic.Crusaders coach Don Dziagwa could only ask for two things to turn his young squad’s fortunes around: grit and determination, and that’s what he got to close out a pressure-packed 67-66 road victory.“We start a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors,” Dziagwa said. “It doesn’t always go as smoothly as you would like it to go sometimes.”Credit the Buccaneers (11-2) for that on Wednesday, starting with senior Mark Mulfinger, who took advantage of vast open patches of court with aggressive, repetitive diagonal drives to the rim. Striking for nine of his game-high 23 points in a momentum-building second quarter — including a killer crossover move to a conventional three-point play — Mulfinger helped turn a 20-13 Tampa Catholic lead into a 35-25 Berkeley advantage with 1:47 left in the first half.Then mix in production from junior C.J. Hawkins, who worked a quality two-man game with senior R.J. Garcia (10 points and five assists) to go off for eight of his 19 points in the third period and send the Bucs into the fourth with an eight-point edge.Somehow Tampa Catholic (8-2) found its energy to start the final eight minutes. Junior Derrick Mitchell (15 points) got the ball rolling with a steal and an emphatic dunk that became a three-point play. A full-court trapping defense created turnovers and fast-break buckets for freshman Karter Knox (14 points) along with sophomores Karmello Branch (12 points) and Eddrin Bronson (16 points with four 3-pointers, three assists and two steals). Drawing two futile Berkeley timeouts to try and ice Tampa Catholic, the three-minute, 17-0 run put the visitors up 58-49.“I feel like that (fourth-quarter start) was extremely huge,” Mitchell said of a quarter where the Crusaders shot 9-of-13 overall and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. “We knew we were in a bad position and we were, like, we can’t go out like this.”But the Bucs weren’t about to pack things in. Mulfinger drove the paint for another three-point play, then turned a Crusaders turnover into a corner 3-ball, tying the score with both shots. Then he ran a backdoor cut to a lay-in for a 66-64 lead with 30 seconds left.But fallow free-throw shooting in the clutch (1-for-5 in the final 1:17) left the door open just enough for Tampa Catholic.Collapsing around the paint to take away primary option Knox on the low block, Bronson instead kicked the ball cross-court to a wide-open Branch in the left corner. The sophomore calmly stuck the 3 with four seconds left to put TC on top, and a Berkeley Prep team without timeouts didn’t get a chance to respond.“My teammates got me open by drawing their defense in,” Branch said. “I was having an off night but I had the confidence to take that shot.”“We knew it was going to be tough coming back from IMG,” Dziagwa said. “They’re tough and physical and our legs were hurting (after Tuesday’s game). We could have said we were tired (Wednesday) but we showed some grit and determination. Berkeley’s tough and we’re very fortunate to come out with a win.”And the week doesn’t get any easier with Jesuit looming Friday.“Our gym is being repaired and we can practice there but we can’t play any games,” Dziagwa said. “We’re lucky that COVID (is limiting attendance) because Berkeley and Jesuit would be tougher buildings to play in.”