Leroy Roker's 22 points propel Bishop Verot past Fort Myers in City of Palms Classic

Leroy Roker woke up Wednesday morning and signed a letter of intent to play football for Ohio State University.

About 12 hours later, the senior was inside Suncoast Credit Union Arena making plays on both ends of the floor at the City of Palms Classic for Bishop Verot.

Roker scored 22 points, adding 8 rebounds and 4 assists to help the Vikings down Fort Myers 58-39 in the Hugh Thimlar Tribute game. Verot snapped a six-game losing streak against the Green Wave, grabbing their largest win in over 20 years against their crosstown rival.

"Honestly, it's a great feeling today, signing with a powerhouse in Ohio State," Roker said. "And getting a W against our rivals. We started off a little slow, but we just needed to step up more. We did our thing."

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The Green Wave did a solid job at dissecting the Verot zone early, going up 8-2 before a 9-3 run gave Verot a 12-11 lead after eight minutes. Mar'Quielle Tory banged home a pair of triples to open things up early, but the Greenies could not capitalize down the stretch, as the size and physicality of the Vikings proved to be too much. Tory, Fort Myers' leading scorer entering the game, would not score over the final 24-plus minutes of action.

Verot attacked the paint hard, scoring 36 of their 58 points from inside, along with 12 more at the charity stripe. Jerry Ashley was a beneficiary, posting a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Tyler Reeder gathered a game-high 13 rebounds as well, adding 6 points.

Gavin Williams also had his moments, coming back after a shaky opening quarter before finishing with 17 points, 5 steals, and a pair of rebounds. His lone assist came on an emphatic alley-oop by Ashley, which forced a timeout leading 39-23 midway through the third.

"One thing that concerned me was that we hadn't really been tested yet this year," Bishop Verot coach Matt Herting said. "I was a little worried that when faced with a challenge, we might struggle. I was proud of us. We came back down 8-2 and 11-4, and after that, we really controlled the whole game."

Fort Myers coach Keeth Jones knew what to expect with Roker having coached him as a freshman at Fort Myers but hoped for a better effort from his group that often settled for shots from distance despite not being a great shooting team from beyond the three-point line. Entering Wednesday's game, Fort Myers was shooting 28 percent as a team from distance, up 27 percent from a season ago. The Greenies made 4 of 19 attempts (21%) from deep.

"We played unaggressive, and we settled for three-point shots at the beginning," Jones said. "We couldn't make any shots. The second half, that continued. We couldn't make any shots. We didn't grab any offensive rebounds which we're usually pretty good on that, but that was also not being aggressive. We never tried to penetrate against their zone, we just stayed on the perimeter hoping to get a three-point shot. If you make shots, it sounds like a good plan, but we didn't make shots.

"... Leroy's one of the best guards around. We didn't keep him out of the paint, and that's something we talked about at halftime. We had to keep him out of the middle, and he got to the middle. He's just that good. He'll get to where he wants to go."

While Wednesday night's meeting between the two sides was a welcome sight for fans along with the community, any chance of seeing the rivalry renewed in full outside of the City of Palms Classic appears to be in doubt.

When the rivalry was halted in the spring of 2018, there was little reason why it was put on hold. The coaches expressed hope that it would continue.

"The biggest thing is that it's out of our hands," Jones said. "It may come out at some point; it may never come out. Right now, the principals have kind of decided the public schools aren't going to play Verot for several different reasons. If that holds true, I don't know the future of the rivalry will be. That's not up to us. That has nothing to do with our basketball game with them.

"(Tournament director) Donnie (Wilkie) was talking about making this the Thimlar game every year. It was a good crowd. We didn't know how it would turn out with us still being in school. It turned out to be a good crowd. It was a great environment."

Herting expressed a similar sentiment, staying optimistic that the battle between the Vikings and Green Wave has a future in which the two are on the schedule at least once every season.

"It's exciting, for me especially," Herting said. "It brings back so many memories. There were so many great games, so many great players, so many great environments. To capture some of that tonight was really special to me personally.

"I hope to keep playing. It's up to them. I want to keep playing. It's as close to Carolina and Duke as you get. It's a private school against a public school. They're right by each other, everybody grows up together playing Little League, Pop Warner, YMCA, YBA and you split them up. It makes it really fun."

Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Bishop Verot, Fort Myers temporarily renew rivalry at City of Palms Classic