Tritons survive 45-37 in 5A-12 semifinals
The phrase is “survive and advance.” This was one of those games for the Mariner Tritons. They survived.
Now the road to the state Class 5A basketball playoffs is open.
The Tritons (21-5) held off a stubborn Immokalee team 45-37 Wednesday night at Mariner’s Frank Morris Memorial Gymnasium to reach the District 5A-12 title game on Friday.
“The district semifinals, you’ve always got to work,” Tritons coach James Harris said. “I told my guys it’s tough at the end of the year. You can either buckle down and grind this one out, or be a cautionary tale. I guess they wanted to play two more games of basketball.”
Mariner faces Golden Gate, a 78-49 winner over Lely in the other semifinal, in Friday’s 7 p.m. championship.
“We just wanted to survive and advance. Get through this one,” Harris said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we get to play Friday. That’s what matters the most.”
The underdog Indians (9-16) came in determined to play defense and keep the score down. Immokalee matched Mariner’s pressure defense, and kept Tritons star Rodney Hunter wrapped up all night long.
“It’s their style,” Harris said. “They had a real good game plan. We missed some shots that we’ve got to make. But hey, give Immokalee credit. They came to play.”
Mariner trailed much of the first half, falling behind 21-14 before scoring the final eight points of the second quarter. Qwameek Shields’ only points of the night, a three-pointer at the buzzer, gave the Tritons a 22-21 lead at intermission.
Following a third quarter that featured a total of nine points scored, five by Mariner, the Tritons finally managed to open a lead in the final period.
“We had to weather the storm and make that run at the start of the fourth quarter,” Harris said.
Two freshmen, Jacob Tracey and Jahmel Myers, provided the scoring punch for the Tritons Wednesday. Tracey and Myers combined for the first six points of the fourth period. Hunter’s hoop and foul shot, his only points, gave the Tritons their largest lead, 36-27, with 5:36 to play.
Immokalee crawled back within three, 37-34, with 1:38 to go. Mariner scored six straight to put the game away.
With Hunter held in check, the freshmen came up big. Tracey overcame a slow start to lead the Tritons with 18 points and two blocked shots. Myers scored 12 points, had nine rebounds and two blocks of his own.
“This time of year, we’re going to get scouted,” Harris said. “We’ve all got to understand that we’ve all got to do our job in order to win. That was the message before the game. Do your job.”
Friday’s title game is against the No. 2-seed Golden Gate (19-7).
The Titans’ only district loss was to top-seeded Mariner 67-60 at Golden Gate.
Friday’s winner at Mariner gets a first-round regional playoff game at home, while the loser starts the postseason on the road.
“I expect a war in here,” Harris said. “They were disappointed last year (when Mariner won the district), and I think they feel like they’re as much a district title winner as we are.”
District 6A-11: Island Coast led for three quarters-plus Wednesday night except when it counted the most – at the final buzzer.
The Gators led by a dozen points with three minutes left in the third quarter when Venice went on a run to cut the deficit to five. The Indians took the lead by four with five seconds left and held on to win the semifinal tilt 59-58.
The Gators had a bonus free throw situation with five seconds remaining trailing by four. The intentionally missed the second free throw hoping to grab the rebound, but Venice gained control. A three-point shot at the buzzer brought the Gators within the final point, but an attempt to draw a foul on the shot failed.
“My two senior captains led us tonight,” said Gators coach Greg Coleman. “They left everything they had on the floor tonight. I ask my team every night to give everything and they did tonight, but we just lost the game.”
Seniors Matt Jeannelas and Gabe Muhammad were the Gators’ offense in their final game of the season. Jeannelas had a double-double of 29 points and 17 rebounds while Muhammad added eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Indians take on the winner between North Fort Myes and top-seeded Charlotte in Friday’s championship game. The Gators finish 13-13.
District 4A-11: Bishop Verot got double-double performances from Thaddeus Ward and Hunter Hand Wednesday night to pull off an upset victory over district host LaBelle, the No. 2 seed, 76-42.
“We played great tonight,” said Vikings coach Matt Herting. “They beat us twice during the season, but we led this one throughout.”
Ward finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds with Hand adding 21 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Lopez led LaBelle with a game-high 26 points.
The No. 3-seed Vikings (11-16) take on No. 1-seed Dunbar in Friday’s championship game at LaBelle.
Sports editor Jim Linette contributed to this report.?