Mariner shreds Gibbs 63-37
On paper, it looked like a Final Four matchup.
The Mariner Tritons shredded St. Petersburg Gibbs 63-37 Thursday night like the Gladiators were made of paper.
The win earns the Tritons (24-3) a Region 5A-3 Semifinal matchup at Bradenton Southeast next Tuesday. Southeast downed Lely 70-57 in another Region 5A-3 Quarterfinal game.
“Our defensive effort was spectacular,” Tritons coach James Harris said. “We’ve been playing good defense the last couple of weeks now. This team gives up 42 points a game. When I say that number aloud it’s like, wow, you know? And you look and we gave up 37. It’s not like we’re holding the ball. It’s not like we’re stalling. It’s just tough to score in the paint against us.”
The Gladiators (22-5) really didn’t try to score in the paint Thursday night. Or rebound, for that matter. Mariner had 41 rebounds against the Gladiators apparently content to try long perimeter shots, then fall back on defense. While they hit five 3-pointers, those baskets barely made a dent.
Amari Haynes had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead the Tritons. Sean Kostyk had three 3-pointers among his 13 points. Isaiah Darrett (eight points) and Jahmel Myers had seven rebounds each.
Harris, as always, wasn’t totally satisfied with his team’s performance.
“We had a few too many turnovers and we have to fix that,” Harris said. “But sometimes I think the pace of the game dictates those turnovers. We’ll clean that up and get ready for our next opponent (Southeast).”
The whole night went Mariner’s way, even before the game started, which was a half-hour late because Gibbs’s bus didn’t arrive until 10 minutes after the scheduled 7 p.m. tipoff time.
The Tritons even took advantage of that.
“I never got a story (as to why Gibbs was late), but I knew we wanted to jump on them early,” Harris said. “That’s what we did. I know we were up 18-6 after the first quarter, which is exactly the way we wanted the game to go. A team comes in here late and they’re kind of holding on. I thought we did a really good job of telling an opponent, ‘Hey, your points are going to have to be tough.'”
Gibbs had been 10-0 in District 5A-11 before falling to Southeast in an overtime upset in their district tournament final. The Gladiators are one season removed from reaching the state semifinals.
“They’re a really good team, but we also know we beat them by 10 here last year,” Harris said. “We also knew that we could play really well here at home. We knew if we wanted to play them it was going to be here at home. I like the result.”