High school roundup (Dec. 25-30): Bradenton Christian, Parrish Community claim titles

SATURDAY

Chick-fil-A Classic Basketball Tournament

(at Bradenton Christian School)

BOYS

Championship game: Bradenton Christian 56, Braden River 55

The Bradenton Christian School boys basketball team not only learned lessons from the first meeting with Braden River High, the Panthers applied them in the rematch.

The Panthers opened in a 1-3-1 defense, but when the Pirates began hitting early shots and jumping out to a lead, Bradenton Christian switched.

The Panthers scored the first eight points of the second quarter and never relinquished the lead in a thrilling 56-55 victory over Braden River in the boys championship game of the Chick-fil-A Classic on Saturday at the Pentecost Athletic Center.

Two weeks earlier at the Pirates gym, Bradenton Christian dropped a 71-53 decision to Braden River.

“They outplayed us and kicked our butt the first time. We had no energy, no effort. They just played harder than us,” Panthers coach Scott Townsend said. “We knew we needed to match that and bring more energy and effort.”

The Pirates looked as if they were going to duplicate the first meeting by jumping to a 13-5 lead.

“We went to a 1-3-1 to see if they would make some shots early, because we had watched film and saw they had struggled. To their credit, they came out and hit some shots,” Townsend said. “We had to make some adjustments. This has kinda been our M.O. We started slow all year and we’ve had to fight back. These guys are resilient. They just keep finding a way.”

Coming off a two overtime victory over Venice High in the semifinals Friday,  Bradenton Christian weathered the early storm and trailed 29-27 at halftime.

All-Tournament Team selection Syrus Pentecost opened the second half with a dunk and tournament Most Valuable Player Jaden Baker hit a pair of 3-pointers during an 8-0 run to start the third quarter to put the Panthers in front.

“We didn’t hit as many shots as we normally hit,” Braden River coach Dwight Gilmer said. “They were scheming and making adjustments from their film study, making sure they knew what we were trying to do and take it away from us. We weren’t able to counter as we normally do.”

The Pirates got even twice, the second time at 53-all on a 3-pointer by All-Tournament Team selection Marcus Schade with 48 seconds remaining in regulation.

Pentecost hit a free throw and Landon Dempsey canned two more from the line with 7.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Isaac Heaven was fouled on the second 3-point attempt by Braden River in the final seconds. With three-tenths of a second remaining, Heaven hit two free throws before Bradenton Christian called timeout.

Heaven missed the third and Ty Townsend secured the rebound for the victory.

Baker finished with 27 points, 14 in the second half to take home the top individual award.

“He’s the best player in the county, in the area by far,” Coach Townsend said. “He’s a stud. He controls the game, leadership. The kid can play. College coaches need to be all over this kid.”

“We had a few defensive rotations that could have been better,” Gilmer said. “(No.) Zero (Baker) had too many straight-line drives to the basket. Knowing that’s his bread and butter, but we weren’t able to stop him. He’s a great player. We needed to do better there.”

Schade scored 70 points in the three games, including his 1,000th career point, for Braden River.

“You’ve got to be able to make plays,” Gilmer said. “Unfortunately tonight we weren’t able to make some of the plays we normally make. Hat’s off to Bradenton Christian. They did a phenomenal job. Their defense made it tough on us. We’ve just got to learn from this and get better.”

It was Bradenton Christian’s seventh championship in the event since 2007.

“We have a lot of seniors and I’m happy for them,” Coach Townsend said.

Third-place game: North Port 58, Venice 48

TOP PLAYERS: NP, Elijah Lubsey 24 points, Jason Kinker 12 points. V, Deylen Platt 14 points, Josh Chiviano 14 points.

OF NOTE: North Port’s Elijah Lubsey scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer in the second quarter. … Lubsey and Venice’s Jaylen Platt were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Sarasota 75, Parrish Community 40

TOP PLAYERS: S, Franklin Liriano 23 points, Johnny Lackaff 20 points, Oliver Boyle 12 points. PC, Dylan Higgins 15 points.

OF NOTE: Sarasota’s Franklin Liriano and Parrish Community’s Dylan Higgins were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Waggener (Kentucky) 74, Bayshore 50

OF NOTE: Waggener senior Elijah Murphy set tournament records with 50 points and 12 3-pointers.

GIRLS

Championship game: Parrish Community 61, Land O’Lakes 44

The Bulls took the lead in the second quarter on a 3-point bank shot by sophomore Mia Polseno and went on to take the title, the first in program history.

Despite being up 33-25 at halftime, Parrish Community coach Kristy Cummings gave a stern speech.

“I had to let them know it was like we were going through the motions,” Cummings said. “We weren’t playing for anything. We weren’t playing hard. We were just trying to hope to get the win. I told them they had to decide what they wanted to do.”

The Pirates outscored the undermanned Gators, 33-18, during the final 16 minutes.

“I was happy to see we had some leadership coming out of that locker room,” Cummings said. “We picked it up in the second half.”

All-Tournament Team Sarah Decker led Parrish Community with 18 points. Tournament Most Valuable Player Mary Portwood chipped in with 16 points and finished with 59 points in the three games.“The whole tournament she’s been great,” Cummings said of Portwood, a senior. “She’s the team leader for us on the floor, handling the ball, going underneath for us, pretty much doing what we need for the team. The thing I’ve been most impressed with this year is she is giving the ball up and getting assists. When you have seven or eight people scoring every game, it makes it a lot easier.”

The Bulls have momentum heading into the new year. Parrish Community heads to New Orleans next week for the All-State Sugar Bowl Classic.

“For us coming in and winning this tournament would give us a good spark,” Cummings said. “And then when we get back, you have a couple of weeks before playoffs. We got what we wanted out of this tournament: Good games, we had to push and it just made us better.”

Land O’Lakes was without three players, two starters, including junior guard Jaylin Neder, who averages 27 points per game.

Third-place game: Bradenton Christian 39, Freedom 35

TOP PLAYERS: BC, Katherine Mercer 9 points, Lana Rice 13 points, Tayler Blanden 10 points.

OF NOTE: Bradenton Christian outscored Freedom out of Orlando, 12-6, in the fourth quarter. … Bradenton Christian’s Dayler Blanden was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Palm Harbor 56, Palmetto 39

TOP PLAYERS: P, Solaura Glover 12 points, Brooke Brinker 9 points, Alijah Parker 9 points.

OF NOTE: Palmetto’s Zamarria Green was named to the All-Tournament Team.

Manatee HEAT 36, DeSoto County 30

− Dennis Maffezzoli

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational

Sarasota 53, Boyd Christian (Tennessee) 42

TOP PLAYERS: S, Paisley Binswanger 27 points, 6 rebounds, Sofi Miller 20 points, 13 rebounds, 6 steals, Ghita DiNota 6 rebounds.

RECORD: Sarasota 8-3.

NEXT: Sarasota at Cardinal Mooney, 6 p.m., Friday

FRIDAY

32nd Annual Ram Jam

(at Riverview High School)

Championship: Archbishop Moeller 42, Cardinal Mooney 26

The Cardinal Mooney Catholic High boys basketball team wanted to make things as tough as possible for highly touted Archbishop Moeller, the top-ranked team in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area.

“We knew they were a good basketball team,” Cougars coach Vince Cherry said. “We knew they were going to make us work. We just wanted to make it as tough as possible.”

Cardinal Mooney held the Fighting Crusaders to their lowest output in the tournament and 19 points below their season average, but the Cougars could not find a rhythm on the offensive end in a 42-26 loss in the final of the 32nd Ram Jam Classic on Friday night at Riverview High School.

“They were winning games by 25, 30 points,” Cherry said. “We just wanted to keep it close and make it tough and see where we were going to be in the fourth quarter.”

While the 2012 Ram Jam champion Cougars (8-6) were within striking distance, trailing 37-24 entering the final eight minutes, they managed two points in the fourth quarter and none in the final 7 minutes, 41 seconds.

“Our problem was it was hard for us to get into sets,” Cherry said. “And we missed a lot of easy stuff around the rim. We tried to get inside a lot and we missed a lot of outside shots we normally hit. It was real tough to play them when those shots weren’t going in”

Kevin O’Donoghue and Connor Heald had 11 and 8 points, respectively, for the Cougars and were named to the All-Tournament team.

Playing for the first time this season with its entire roster of players, Cardinal Mooney went 2-1 in the event.

“It means a lot to me,” said Cherry, a former Riverview High player. “I’m just happy our guys competed. We keep telling them our goal is long-term. This is a good team. You’re not going to play many teams like this. We’ll be fine in the long run.”

Eric Mahaffey had 10 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament for Archbishop Moeller (9-0), which broke a 2-all tie with four straight 3-pointers and never looked back. Noah George (11 points) was named to the All-Tournament team.

The Fighting Crusaders also won the Ram Jam title in 2018.

Third place: Riverview 55, Newsome 45

The Rams scored the first four points of the game and never looked back in going wire-to-wire.

Jayden Dudash scored 14 points and was named to the All-Tournament team for Riverview (9-5). Josh Harris had Rhys Gamble scored 13 and 9 points, respectively for the Rams, who went 2-1 in the tournament.

All-Tournament team selection Ethan Moore, who averaged 25 points in the three games, led the Wolves with a game-high 20 points. Moore had five in the second half when Riverview’s Jackson King guarded the junior guard most of the time.

Fifth place: Booker 56, Clearwater 44

TOP PLAYERS: B, Jovan Palavra 13 points, Jamareon Ruffin 12 points, JP Lattimore 11 points.

OF NOTE: Booker outscored Clearwater, 21-5 in the first quarter. … The Tornadoes went 2-1 in the event and improved to 6-8 on the season.

Seventh place: Southeast 59, Dunbar 57

TOP PLAYERS: S, Jamari Bivens 14 points, Anquan Polynice 13 points, Terraze Adams 12 points.

OF NOTE: Southeast went 1-2 in the event and improved to 6-5 on the season.

Dennis Maffezzoli

Chick-fil-A Classic Basketball Tournament

(at Bradenton Christian School)

BOYS

Semifinals

Braden River 74, North Port 42

TOP PLAYER: BR, Marcus Schade 28 points.

OF NOTE: Braden River’s Marcus Schade scored his 1,000th career point.

Bradenton Christian 71, Venice 70, 2 OTs

TOP PLAYER: BC, Syrus Pentecost 26 points.

Consolations

Sarasota 72, Waggener (Kentucky) 40

TOP PLAYER: S, Michael Drayton III 19 points.

Parrish Community 61, Bayshore 54

TOP PLAYER: PC, Dylan Higgins 19 points.

GIRLS

Semifinals 

Parrish Community 61, Bradenton Christian School 51

TOP PLAYER: PC, Mary Portwood 25 points.

Land O’Lakes 44, Freedom 36, OT

Consolations

Palmetto 54, DeSoto County 34

TOP PLAYER: P, Zamarria Green 19 points.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Holiday Classic

Championship Game: Sarasota Christian 57, Saint John Neumann 48

TOP PLAYERS: Ben Milliken 25 points, Josh Frazzini 23 points, Justin Brock 5 points.

OF NOTE: Josh Frazzini was named Tournament MVP, and Ben Milliken was All-Tournament Team.

NEXT: Sarasota Christian at Imagine School at North Port, 7 p.m., Jan. 3

Third-place game: American Collegiate Academy 57, Academy at the Lakes 50

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational

(at Wiregrass Ranch)

Sarasota 67, George Jenkins 20

TOP PLAYERS: S, Paisley Binswanger 17 points, 6 steals, Alyssia Bane 13 points, 7 steals, Sofi Miller 12 points, 6 rebounds, Ghita DiNota 11 points, 6 rebounds, Madison MacDonald 8 points , 6 rebounds

RECORD: Sarasota 7-3

NEXT: Sarasota will play 3:30 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the game between Boyd Christian (Tennessee) and Tampa Bat Tech in the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational at Wiregrass Ranch.

THURSDAY

Chick-fil-A Classic Basketball Tournament

(at Bradenton Christian School)

BOYS

Venice 53, Parrish Community 52

It was not exactly how the Venice High boys basketball team drew up the final play, but it worked.

Chad Fleming followed in a missed free throw as time expired as Venice squeaked out a victory over the Bulls.

Trailing by 10 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in regulation, Parrish Community stormed back to take a 52-50 lead on a layup by Dylan Higgins with 6 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Deylen Platt was fouled attempting a shot. Platt made the first free throw and missed the second on the right side. Fleming maneuvered his way to the rebound and put in the winning basket.

“We made it interesting,” Venice coach Luke Davis said. “Credit to Chad. He had a really good game and played really hard.”

Venice trailed 24-21 at halftime after Taye Green canned a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in the second quarter.

“We stayed aggressive. We kept attacking in the paint. We did a really good job on Dylan,” Davis said of Higgins, who ended with 21 points. “He’s a really good player.”

Davis credits Fleming, Zeke Settles and Marcel Fil with playing strong defense on Higgins.

Platt led Venice with 21 points. Fleming finished with 14 points, and Josh Chaviano ended with 10 points.

Malakai Cuffy had 14 points for the Bulls.

Bradenton Christian 69, Bayshore 50

The Panthers ended the first half with a 13-0 run and scored the first eight points in the third quarter to break the game open. Bradenton Christian had a streak of 29-3 that extended from the second to the fourth quarter.

“When we pick up the tempo and get out to what we normally do, that’s more our game,” Bradenton Christian coach Scott Townsend said.

Jaden Baker, who had a stretch of 10 consecutive points, led the Panthers with 20 points. Syrus Pentecost added 13 points and Collier Fuller 9 points for the winners.

“It all starts with our defense, getting good defensive pressure and stops, rebounding and being able to get out and go,” Townsend said.

Bayshore, which outscored the Panthers, 24-14, in the fourth quarter, received 15 points from WIlliam Strawbridge and 10 points from Demetrios Kimon.

“We knew they would hit some shots early,” Townsend said. “We just had to wear them down and keep doing it. We got great energy coming off the bench. That’s a big spark for us.”

North Port 62, Sarasota 58

TOP PLAYERS: NP, Eli Lubsey 21 points, 17 in the second half, 9 in the fourth quarter. Brennen Ingle 19 points, Isaiah Gabriel 16 points; S, Franklin Liriano 17 points, Johnny Lackaff 13 points, Oliver Boyle 11 points, Michael Drayton III 11 points.

OF NOTE: North Port outscored Sarasota, 21-14, in the fourth quarter after trailing for most of the game.

Braden River 73, Waggoner (Kentucky) 46

TOP PLAYERS: BR, Marcus Schade 21 points, Isaac Heaven 19 points, Deven Womack 15 points.

OF NOTE: Braden River led 12-6 after the first quarter and 37-18 at halftime.

GIRLS

Parrish Community 66, Palm Harbor 43

TOP PLAYERS: PC, Mary Portwood 18 points, Alexis Heuss 15 points, Sarah Decker 14 points.

OF NOTE: Parrish Community used a 21-6 in the second quarter to lead 32-19 at halftime. … The Bulls then outscored Palm Harbor, 16-8, in the fourth quarter. … Parrish Community had to deal with the overall team height of the Hurricanes.

COACH'S QUOTE: “We haven’t been out-sized this year,” Parrish coach Kristy Cummings said. “We got out to the lead and finally started running the ball. We played a bunch of people which helped us keep our legs. We finally executed and had some things come together tonight.”

Land O’Lakes 37, Palmetto 33

TOP PLAYERS: P, Brooke Brinker 10 points, Zamaerria Green 8 points.

Freedom 53, DeSoto County 35

Friday’s schedule

GIRLS

Semifinals (Main gym)

Land O’Lakes vs. Freedom, 11:30 a.m.

Parrish Community vs. Bradenton Christian, 2:30 p.m.

Consolations (Auxiliary gym)

Palmetto vs. DeSoto County, 12:30 p.m.

Palm Harbor vs. Manatee HEAT, 3:30 p.m.

BOYS

Semifinals (Main gym)

Braden River vs. North Port, 1 p.m.

Venice vs. Bradenton Christian, 4 p.m.

Consolations (Auxiliary gym)

Waggoner (Kentucky) vs. Sarasota, 11 a.m.

Parrish Community vs. Bayshore, 2 p.m.

Ram Jam Boys Basketball Tournament

(at Riverview High)

Semifinals

Cardinal Mooney 62, Riverview 61

Archbishop Moeller 61, Newsome 37

Consolations

Clearwater 81, Southeast 53

Booker 67, Dunbar 53

Friday's schedule

7th-place game

Southeast vs. Dunbar, 3 p.m.

5th-place game

Clearwater vs. Booker, 4:30 p.m.

3rd-place game

Riverview vs. Newsome, 6:15 p.m.

Championship game

Cardinal Mooney vs. Archbishop Moeller, 7:45 p.m.

− Dennis Maffezzoli

Holiday Classic Semifinal

Sarasota Christian 70, American Collegiate Academy 30

TOP PLAYERS: SC, Justin Brock 19 points, Ben Milliken 16 points, Josh Frazzini 12 points, Colton Loftus 12 points, Trey Featherston 6 points

RECORDS: Sarasota Christian 8-3, American Collegiate Academy 6-3

OF NOTE: Saint John Neumann defeated Academy at the Lakes, 68-47 in the other semifinal.

NEXT: Sarasota Christian vs. Saint John Neumann 7 p.m., Friday in the championship game of the Holiday Classic Championship Game.

Friday’s schedule

Consolation Game: Academy at the Lakes vs American Collegiate Academy, 5:30 p.m.

Championship Game: Sarasota Christian vs Saint John Neumann, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY

BOYS BASKETBALL

32nd Annual Ram Jam

(at Riverview High)

Cardinal Mooney 53, Booker 41

The Cougars outscored the Tornadoes, 22-10, during the third quarter to break open a close game.

“Defense,” Cardinal Mooney coach Vince Cherry said. “I don’t think we did very well in the first half at all.”

After giving up 24 points in the first half, the Cougars (7-5) limited Booker (4-8) to 17 points in the second half.

“We’ve got to play defense,” Cherry said. “It’s that simple: We’ve got to defend. And we’ve got to get out in transition a little bit more.”

It was the first game Cardinal Mooney had its full contingent of players.

“We’re getting everybody’s feet wet,” Cherry said.

TOP PLAYERS: CM, Connor Heald 18 points, Cooper Smith 12 points; B, Jovan Palavra 13 points, Kaiden Wright 13 points.

Riverview 71, Dunbar 45

The Rams scored the final eight points of the first quarter and never looked back.

“We pulled away,” Riverview coach Brandon Knecht said. “We switched to diamond (defense) and got some traps. Our energy improved a little bit. We came out flat.”

The Tigers (1-5) are coming off their first win of the season against Island Coast. Dunbar was a late replacement for Park Crossing, Alabama, which pulled out of the event late.

TOP PLAYERS: R, Josh Harris 17 points, Jayden Dudash 14 points, Fabian Gomez 11 points, Rhys Gamble 10 points; D, Jamari Cobb 13 points, Hezekiah Jones 9 points.

Archbishop Moeller (Ohio) 58, Southeast 21

TOP PLAYERS: SE, Terraze Adams 6 points.

OF NOTE: Eleven Archbishop Moeller players scored, and no one had more than nine points.

Newsome 59, Clearwater 34

Thursday’s schedule

Semifinal games

Archbishop Moeller vs. Newsome, 6:15 p.m.

Cardinal Mooney vs. Riverview, 7:45 p.m.

Consolation games

Southeast vs. Clearwater, 3 p.m.

Booker vs. Dunbar, 4:30 p.m.

− Dennis Maffezzoli

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational

Gainesville 46, Sarasota 36

TOP PLAYERS: S, Sofi Miller 12 points, 13 rebounds, Paisley Binswanger 8 points, Madison MacDonald 8 points, Ghita DiNota 6 points.

NEXT: The Lady Sailors will play George Jenkins High School 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational held at Wiregrass Ranch.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Manatee high school sports roundup for the week of Dec. 25-30