Mariner disposes of NFM 51-27 in 4A-11 tourney
After a sluggish start that lasted into the third quarter, the Mariner Tritons finally played like the District 4A-11 Tournament’s No. 2 seed.
The Tritons allowed the No. 7 seeded North Fort Myers Red Knights to hang around until midway through the third quarter before pulling away for a 51-27 victory in the quarterfinal round Wednesday night at Fort Myers High.
The win sends the Tritons (18-7) to Friday’s semifinal round against No. 6 Lemon Bay, which ousted No. 3 seed Cypress Lake 86-75 in the other quarterfinal contest.
Multiple turnovers by both teams in the first half kept the scoring low. The Tritons led 26-16 at intermission.
The Tritons broke the all-over-the-court pressure applied by the Knights in the fourth quarter to stretch an eight-point lead to the final 23-point margin.
“Our depth and experience, but mostly our depth, finally wore them down,” said Tritons coach James Harris. “And we managed to outscore them in every quarter. When we get double-doubles from a couple of our guys we’re going to win most games.”
Luke Stamps hit a pair of three-pointers to kickstart the Tritons’ 18-6 run in the final eight minutes. Kendrec Ferrara (10 rebounds) led the Tritons with 13 points, Sam Guerrier added 12 and Justin Emmons 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“Our defense has played well in our last eight games,” said Harris. “We’ve been holding teams to one shot. Even when we’ve missed shots ourselves we haven’t given up easy ones to the other team.”
Only three players scored for the Knights, led by Andrew Malaise with a game-high 16 of their 27 points.
The Tritons take on the Manta Rays at 5 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal match followed by top-seeded Fort Myers against No. 4 Ida Baker. The winners advance to the championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday.
North FM 8 8 5 6 – 27
Mariner 11 15 7 18 – 51
NORTH 27 – Malaise 16, Vega 3, Mercado 8. Totals: 9 6-8 27.
3PG: Malaise 2, Vega 1.
MARINER 51 – Stamps 6, Marrero 4, Moore 6, Guerrier 12, Ferrara 13, Emmons 10. Totals: 16 14-18 51.
3PG: Stamps 2, Moore 2, Guerrier 1.