Mariner opts for shootout style tourney
High school basketball teams are hitting their stride for the season as the Christmas holiday season approaches. That also means tournament time.
Southwest Florida is noted for top-notch basketball in December, most of that reputation being earned through the annual City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, which runs from Dec. 18-23 at Bishop Verot High School.
Other smaller, more locally oriented tourneys have cropped up over the years, too, including Mariner’s Holiday Shootout that plays out next Friday and Saturday. Mariner’s tourney started out as a bracketed event several years ago, but the format has been changed to a shootout this year.
“We abandoned the tournament format and the City of Palms had something to do with that,” said Tritons coach James Harris. “We didn’t want to play a tournament with Friday, Saturday and Monday games, but we wanted it to be a competitive shootout before Christmas.
“We wanted the teams here to try to get better, win or lose,” added Harris. “We wanted to play two competitive games at home to get tested. Then we’ll take a week off and rest up over Christmas with our families.”
With some unique scheduling, nine teams will participate in the shootout with no team being declared the overall winner as in a bracketed tournament.
Southwest Florida Christian is a team that likes to throw up a lot of 3-pointers, Harris said, and both Estero and First Baptist Academy are young teams looking for a good matchup.
“We made the game pairings as competitive as possible,” said Harris. “Lakewood Ranch versus LaBelle is the game of the tourney, the highlight of the shootout. As a team, you really want to see that game.”
Lakewood Ranch, Port Charlotte, First Baptist and South Fort Myers are slated to play just one game in the shootout due to other commitments.
Games start at 4:40 p.m. on Friday with Southwest Florida Christian tipping off against Dunbar. Estero takes on First Baptist in the second game and the unbeaten Tritons take on LaBelle in the last matchup at 8 p.m.
South Fort Myers and Port Charlotte tip off at 3 p.m. Saturday on the heels of three JV games that tip off in the morning. Dunbar meets Estero at 4:40 followed by the LaBelle-Lakewood Ranch contest and the finale at 8 p.m. between Mariner and SWF?Christian.
The Tritons (8-0) haven’t started a season this well since the 2002-03 season. They put their streak at risk against North Fort Myers on Thursday night before the shootout, setting themselves up to play three games in three consecutive days.
Mariner’s campus will be a busy scene next weekend as the school also hosts its annual holiday soccer tournament for boys’ and girls’ teams. A total of eight games are on tap for Friday with 16 matches starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday.