Happy holidays?
On the basketball court the holidays turned out very happy for the Mariner Tritons, but it was quite the opposite for the Island Coast Gators.
The Tritons kept their unbeaten start to the season in tact with a 71-62 victory Saturday over Palmetto in the Venice Battle of the Beach Shootout.
The Tritons (14-0) led most of the way, only trailing by one point at the half. A couple of eight- to 10-point runs in the second half ignited the Tritons to victory.
“This was good for us coming out of a break,” said Tritons coach James Harris, who also registered his 200th win as Mariner coach. “We made an adjustment at the half to get back inside to the basket. We hit 6-of-7 from three-point range, but it was our inside game that won it for us.”
Sean Kostyk led a trio of Tritons scoring in double figures with 17 points to go with five rebounds. Jahmel Myers contributed 15 points to the offense and Tyrell Smith 11 points.
The Tritons resume regular season play on Tuesday at Lely.
The Gators, on the other hand, lost three tournament games in the Ocoee Great 8 Classic and extended their losing streak to five in a row on Saturday with a 73-61 loss to Venice in the Battle of the Beach Shootout.
The Gators (8-9) had two scorers reach double figures, led by Craig Sirmons with a double-double of 29 points and 10 rebounds. Sam Merchant pitched in 11 points while Kory Curtis added seven points, six rebounds and five assists and Quad Jenkins got eight points and five boards.
“We fell behind, down 11 at the end of the first quarter,” said Gators coach Greg Coleman. “We made four turnovers toward the end of the half that led to a 10-0 run by Venice.”
Ten points was as close as the Gators got in the fourth quarter.
“We are not playing well right now,” said Coleman. “We need school to start back up so we can get back to our routine. Our schedule the rest of the way there are no gimmies, so we have to play well from here on out.”
The Gators travel to Port Charlotte on Tuesday.
Ocoee Great 8 Classic: Island Coast was unable to climb over the hump in Wednesday’s 7th place game, falling to Orlando Colonial 68-53.
“We had our weaknesses exposed,” said Coleman. “We have things to work on going forward and can fix some of those for the shootout on Saturday.”
The Gators (8-8) lost all three games in the tournament to quality opponents. Pleasure Ridge Park (Ky.) played in the City of Palms Classic just a few years ago and Union City has won seven of the last 10 state championships in Tennessee.
Girls Soccer
Bishop Verot 10, LaBelle 0: Bishop Verot picked up where it left off before the holiday break by shutting out district rival LaBelle Monday night in a match rescheduled from before the winter break.
Nina Gulati led the Vikings with three goals while Maddie Sarnac and Bittsy Betton each contributed two goals to the 40-minute rout.
Reilly McAloose, Lander Peck and Lauren Lockard added one goal apiece while goalkeeper Julia Flynn’s one save preserved the victory.
“It was a good game to come back with for us,” said Vikings coach Randy Zavada. “We had a number of girls play club soccer during the break, but it took a bit for us to become familiar and come together.”
The Vikings (10-6-1, 7-0-1 district) travel to Gulf Coast on Wednesday.