High school roundup (Jan. 2-6): Sarasota girls knock off previously unbeaten Atlantic
SATURDAY
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SUTS Report New Year's Classic, Fort Lauderdale
Sarasota 47, Atlantic 36
TOP PLAYERS: S, Paisley Binswanger 19 points, Ghita DiNota 12 points, Sofi Miller 16 rebounds, 8 points, Haley LaGasse 8 points
RECORD: Sarasota 9-4, Atlantic 9-1.
NEXT: Palmetto at Sarasota, 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Teacher Appreciation Night.
FRIDAY
WRESTLING
Class 2A-District 10
BRADENTON − The Manatee High wrestling team stormed through four opponents, including Palmetto High, 44-22, to win the championship of the Class 2A-District 10 tournament Friday at Manatee High.
The Hurricanes went undefeated in the round-robin event, defeating Seminole, 72-12, Countryside, 72-3, and Pinellas Park, 69-3, in earlier rounds.
“It’s nice to get another district title. That’s obviously always a goal,” Manatee coach Andy Gugliemini said. “With this great group of young men, our goals are a little higher than a district title. We’re happy we’re moving on.”
Manatee (26-0) advances to Round 1 of the FHSAA Dual Team Wrestling Tournament on Thursday at Jesuit High in Tampa. The Tigers defeated the Hurricanes in Round 2 of the event last season.
“We know they’re an amazing team,” Gugliemini said. “We’re going to relish the fact we have the opportunity to go wrestle them. We’ve been working hard to have this opportunity. We’re going to leave it on the mat, that’s for sure.”
In the first round, Manatee will take on county rival Braden River High. The Pirates finished second to Jesuit in the 2A-District 9 tournament.
“Can’t overlook anybody,” Gugliemini said. “We’ve tried to go one match at a time. What’s in front of us today and go do it. We’ve done a great job with that. As long as we keep doing that. If we are going to have a chance at winning a state title, then we’ve got to beat the best of the best. At least we have a shot.”
Winning for the Hurricanes against Palmetto were Riley Craig (decision at the 108-pound weight class), Isaac Cedeno (first-period pin at 128), Luke Arthur (first-period pin at 134), Jake Samuels (major decision at 146), Julian Smith (second-period pin at 159), Hunter White (first-period pin at 167), Mason Miller (forfeit at 177) and Tez McDowell (first-period pin at 217). Miller also picked up his 100th career win at Manatee.
“Jake Samuel keeps plugging along and keeps continuing to win,” Gugliemini said. “Mason Miller is undefeated. Damontez is an animal at 215.”
The Hurricanes have been solid up and down the lineup.
“Overall our team depth is what’s doing it for us,” Gugliemini said. “One match it might be this guy; another match it might be this guy. Overall they’re tough from top to bottom.”
Palmetto received victories in the final against Manatee were Colton Aaron (second-period pin at 115), Jake Wyatt (decision at 140), Nevan Nadeau (decision at 152), Dastan Chiketaev (decision at 192) and DeAndre Berry (pin at 287).
The Tigers also advance to the 2A-Region 2 tournament, taking on host Jesuit in Round 1.
Two rounds will be wrestled Thursday.
− Dennis Maffezzoli
BOYS BASKETBALL
Sarasota 52, Cardinal Mooney 47
SARASOTA − After the Sarasota High boys basketball team played its worst half of the season offensively, Coach B.J. Ivey did not mince words at halftime.
“We had to wake them up a little bit and get them going,” Ivey said.
In the second half, the Sailors rebounded better, controlled the tempo and made free throws down the stretch to snare a victory over Cardinal Mooney Catholic High on Friday evening in front of a standing-room only gathering at Patterson Pavilion.
“We just refocused,” Ivey said. “They were able to get eight offensive rebounds in the first half. That is not a huge number, but if you look at the number of possessions in the game, there were so few possessions. We did a much better job of rebounding the ball, which created an opportunity for us to play with pace.”
The Cougars (8-7) scored the first five points of the game.
The Sailors (11-2) did not score its first point until 5 minutes, 5 seconds elapsed and did not get its first bucket until freshman Johnny Lackaff canned a 3-pointer 6:30 in.
“We played with good pace in the first half,” Cardinal Mooney coach Vince Cherry said. “We wanted to control tempo. We didn’t want them to control tempo and speed us up. We did that.”
“Hats off to Mooney. They did a good job of extending possessions, getting offensive rebounds and things like that,” Ivey said.
Ranked 30th by the Florida High School Athletic Association power rankings and 39th by MaxPreps in the state, Sarasota did not gain its first advantage until Oliver Boyle buried a 3-pointer 30 seconds into the second half to make it 18-17.
“We didn’t do a good enough job in the first half of finishing around the rim to get the lead to eight or 10 and give ourselves some wriggle room,” said Cherry, a former player under Ivey at Riverview High. “We just didn’t capitalize enough in the first half the way I would have liked us to.”
From there it swung back and forth with Cardinal Mooney grabbing a 42-40 edge on a Kevin O’Donoghue layup after a steal with 5 minutes remaining in regulation.
“In a possession game like this, every possession matters,” Cherry said. “We’ve got to value every possession.”
Armani Sanches got the Sailors even with a layup, and then salted away the game at the foul line with Lackaff (4), Boyle (4) and former Cardinal Mooney player Franklin Liriano (2) canning 10 straight from the line in the final 1:58.
“I had all the confidence in the world they would hit them,” Ivey said.
Lackaff led a balanced scoring attack with 13 points. Boyle followed with nine, Liriano and Munn eight and Aaron Clark seven.
“We gave up too many second-chance points in the second half,” Cherry said. “That hurt big time.”
Connor Heald led all scorers with 24 points for Cardinal Mooney. O’Donoghue added 10 points.
O’Donoghue was honored at halftime for scoring his 1,000th career point Dec. 15 against Admiral Farragut. A senior, O’Donoghue played at both Out-of-Door Academy and for the Cougars.
− Dennis Maffezzoli
Parrish 56, Imagine School North Port 37
AT: Imagine School at North Port
TOP PLAYERS: P, Dylan Higgins 21 points, Malakai Cuffy 8 points, Jamaal George 8 points, I, Peyton Rossback 10 points, Angelo Bias 10 points
RECORD: Parrish Community 10-5
Out-of-Door Academy 51, Sarasota Christian 45
AT: ODA's Thunderdome.
TOP PLAYERS: SC, Josh Frazzini 17 points, Ben Milliken 14 points, Randall Collins 6 points.
RECORDS: Out-of-Door Academy 5-8, Sarasota Christian 10-4
NEXT: Sarasota Christian at Saint Stephens Episcopal 7 p.m. Tuesday
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Cardinal Mooney 70, Sarasota 40
SARASOTA − The Cougars broke a 2-all tie with a 15-3 run, including 11 straight points, in the first half of the varsity doubleheader.
Cardinal Mooney (9-6) constantly beat Sarasota (8-4) down the court for easy layups.
“I’m trying to get buckets before the defense sets up,” Cougars coach Marlon Williams said. “I’m trying to explain to the girls to make it easy, make the game easy.”
Ranked 15th in the FHSAA power rankings and 21st by MaxPreps in the state, the Cougars received 20 points from junior Kali Barrett, 18 points from junior Sy’Monique Simon and 11 points from freshman Madi Mignery.
“It might seem easy to some people, but for me there are a lot of things we still need to work on,” Williams said. “Defense basically, man-to-man specifically. Little details: Things like rebounding, making layups, things of that nature. We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re trying.”
The Cougars have been to the Final 4 the past three seasons, losing in the championship game the past two seasons.
“We’re trying to reach a goal, trying to get to Lakeland and trying to compete,” Williams said. “There are some details we need to work on. It was a good win. Sarasota came to play.”
Sofi Miller scored 15 points and Paisley Binswanger had 13 points for the Sailors (8-3), ranked 51st by Max Preps and 52nd by the FHSAA in the state.
In between the girls and boys varsity games, Cardinal Mooney honored the family of the late Kerry Baker, who coached and played an instrumental part in Cougar athletics.
− Dennis Maffezzoli
THURSDAY
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Lemon Bay 47, First Baptist Academy 45
TOP PLAYERS: LB, Maya Collins 18 points, 7 rebounds, Myah Dickerson 13 points, 10 rebounds.
RECORD: Lemon Bay 6-7.
NEXT: Lakewood Ranch at Lemon Bay, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
WEDNESDAY
BOYS BASKETBALL
Sarasota Christian 59, Imagine School at North Port 52
AT: Shark Tank of Imagine School at North Port
TOP PLAYERS: SC, Josh Frazzini 26 points, Ben Milliken 16 points, Justin Brock 11 points.
RECORDS: Sarasota Christian 10-3, Imagine School at North Port 5-7
NEXT: Sarasota Christian at The Out-of-Door Academy 5:30 p.m., Friday
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Manatee high school sports roundup for the week of Jan. 2-6
