Mike Ridaught
Florida Get Down New Year’s Classic tournament host St. Francis Catholic Academy, and Fort White, both faced big deficits early in Friday afternoon’s boys basketball action.
The two games went in completely different directions.
Fort White trailed 10-0 in the opening quarter of its game against Union Grove (McDonough, GA) at former Gator Dan Cross’ holiday showcase.
The Indians battled hard but lost in overtime, 58-54, to the Wolverines (8-6).
Turnovers contributed to the quick deficit, but Fort White battled back to eventually take the lead.
Fort White coach Elven Sheppard said the difference was “just settling down.”
“Playing a bigger school, they were faster than what we’ve seen, bigger than what we’ve seen, they were just a little bit more beefed up on in everything that they did,” he said. “So, when our guys just settled down and adjusted, we played basketball.”
The Indians (8-2) were able to take the lead at the end of the first quarter, 15-12, on a left baseline 3-pointer by junior Taferi Moe to finish an 8-0 run.
Moe led all scorers with 22 points.
“We call him T-Moe, he’s really good,” Sheppard said. “He’s been starting for me since he was a freshman. He’s been learning, he’s been growing, he’s been getting better and better. He’s getting bigger, he’s getting stronger. He’s just a solid dude on and off the court.”
Freshman Chris Wray hit a 3-ball from the right wing with 24 seconds to play in the half to give the team from the Peach State a 25-24 lead at the break.
The game was back-and-forth the entire third quarter. There were six ties and five lead changes.
The big bucket late came on a 3-pointer from the top of the key by senior Najeeb Smith (8 points) with 1:16 to play in regulation to tie the game at 50-50.
Sophomore point guard Jayden Jackson’s deep NBA 3-pointer from up top was no good at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
Fort White had a couple of opportunities to tie the game late but came up short.
“Unfortunately, their length kind of hurt us a little bit,” Sheppard said. “Obviously no coach is going to be friends with the ref but we thought we should have got a few more calls that could have swayed in our way, but we’re happy to be here and we’re ready to compete.”
Despite the loss, Sheppard was happy about the opportunity to showcase his team to Alachua County.
“We’re playing a bunch of Gainesville, Alachua County schools to try and earn some respect,” he said. “We’ve got guys out in Fort White that can play basketball and I don’t know if a lot of people know about us, so we’re doing whatever it takes to make that known.”
Senior Brandon Demartino added 12 points for Fort White, which will play Lecanto at noon on Saturday.
Union Grove senior Nile King had 14 points to lead the Wolverines, who will play Stranahan (Fort Lauderdale) in the following game at 1:30 p.m.
St. Francis Catholic didn’t have much of a chance against Lecanto in the first game of the day on Friday.
The Panthers started the game on a 21-0 run in the opening quarter.
“We came out flat after a long layoff, we hadn’t played since Dec. 12,” said St. Francis Catholic Academy coach Larry Walker, whose team dropped to 8-2. “Their pressure kind of hurt us early on. They shot the ball and didn’t miss early on.”
In fact, the Panthers extended a 6-0 lead into a 21-point advantage thanks to a string of five straight 3-pointers.
Sophomore Braylen Moore (10 points) started the rain of 3s for a 9-0 lead, which led to a Wolves’ timeout.
Sophomore J.T. Tipton (game-high 27 points) hit one and sophomore Josh Patrick (15 points) hit the final three during the run.
St. Francis Catholic got a bucket from senior Ty Powell to end the drought with 3:26 to play in the opening period.
However, Lecanto (10-2) finished the quarter with an 8-0 run for a 29-2 lead after the first eight minutes.
Freshman Jonah Powers had nine points off the bench to lead St. Francis Catholic, which will play Eastside in the final game of the day at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Scores – Friday, Dec. 29
Lecanto 72, St. Francis Catholic 30
Union Grove (McDonough, GA) 58, Fort White 54 (OT)
Creekside Christian Academy (McDonough, GA) 85, Bell Creek Academy (Riverview) 78
Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach) 58, Eastside 43
Orlando Christian Prep 58, Central (Fort Pierce) 41
Saturday, Dec. 30
Noon – Fort White vs. Lecanto
1:30 p.m. – Union Grove (McDonough, GA) vs. Stranahan (Fort Lauderdale)
3 p.m. – Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach) vs. Creekside Christian Academy (McDonough, GA)
4:30 p.m. – Central (Fort Pierce) vs. Johnson (Savannah, GA)
6 p.m. – Bell Creek Academy (Riverview) vs. Orlando Christian Prep
7:30 p.m. – St. Francis Catholic vs. Eastside
