The air was electric in the Shark Tank on Wed. Dec. 27, 2017 as the Nature Coast Sharks welcomed in 15 teams spread across the state of Florida and one team from Georgia in their fifth annual Nature Coast Christmas Tournament. Every team that showed up had high hopes of being crowned a champion in either bracket, and some were returning champions defending their crown. The results of the first eight games are as follows:
Mitchell vs. Hernando
In the first matchup of the “B” bracket, the Mitchell Mustangs took on the Hernando Leopards. Riding behind a game-high 30 points by senior forward JP Watt, the Mustangs went up early in the game and cruised to a dominant 77-46 victory over the Leopards. Hernando simply couldn’t muster any answers to Mitchell, with most of their shots failing to fall into the net. Hernando’s leading scorer: Wesley Wilson with 11 points.
Alonso vs. Zephyrhills
In the second matchup of the “B” bracket, Alonso faced Zephyrhills in arguably the best matchup of their bracket. Each team came out of the gates firing, with neither giving an inch of comfort for their opponent. This game came down to the wire, but Alonso was able to slightly prevail over the Bulldogs, 57-56. Alonso’s leading scorer was Sager Cavalier, who had a game-high 35 points. Donte Marchman led the Bulldogs with a team-high 16 points.
George Jenkins vs. Land O’ Lakes
In the third matchup of the “B” bracket, George Jenkins faced Land O’ Lakes and prevailed 52-42 over the Gators. The Eagles’ leading scorer was Jordan Domineck, who scored 19 points. The Gators had the highest scorer of the game, that being 22 points from the hand of guard Mekhi Perry.
Jefferson vs. Nature Coast
In the fourth and final matchup of the first round in the “B” bracket, Jefferson faced Nature Coast, hoping to spoil the host’s chances of advancing in their own tournament. However, Nature Coast’s incredibly hot December offense continued to fire, and the Sharks cruised to a 67-37 victory over the Dragons. NCT was led again by senior guard Robert McAfee, who had a game-high 26 points and only missed three shots.
Superior Collegiate vs. Armwood
In the first matchup of the “A” bracket, the Superior Collegiate Legion faced off against the Armwood Hawks. In this matchup, Armwood led wire to wire behind the hands of Shahiid Newsome and advanced with a 65-48 victory. Newsome had a game-high 19 points, while the Legion only had 3 three-pointers out of 27 attempted, and all were made by guard Robert Hardy.
Berkmar vs. Brooks DeBartolo
In the second matchup of the “A” bracket, the only team from out-of-state, the Berkmar Patriots, faced off against the Brooks DeBartolo Phoenix. In another close matchup, Berkmar had a six-point advantage going into halftime, but still was able to prevent the Phoenix from resurrecting, winning their matchup 67-55. Three players had the game-high point total of 18, two from Berkmar (Tony Johnson and Ben Soumaharo) and one from DeBartolo (Isaiah Thomas).
Orlando Dr. Phillips vs. Lakeland
In the third matchup of the “A” bracket, Orlando-Dr. Phillips faced off against the only two-time champion in NCT tournament history, the Lakeland Dreadnaughts. After a very close first half that saw Dr. Phillips take a 10-point lead at halftime, the Dreadnaughts came firing in the second half en route to an 85-76 victory. Lakeland point guard Dwayne McCalebb had a game-high 29 points, and the team had a 34-point 4th quarter.
Fletcher vs. Countryside
The final matchup of the first round in the “A” bracket saw the Fletcher Senators face off against the Countryside Cougars. These two teams arguably complemented each other, and it showed in what proved to be a back-and-forth slugfest throughout. When it was all said and done, Fletcher had guard Anthony Evelyn make one of his two free throws in the final seconds, and a last-second game-tying three-pointer by Countryside guard Nathan Tettenborn was no good, allowing the Senators to slightly prevail, 69-66.
Today’s matchups (Dec. 28), in order of start time, are as follows:
Hernando vs. Zephyrhills @ 9:30 AM
Land O’ Lakes vs. Jefferson @ 11:00 AM
Superior Collegiate vs. Armwood @ 12:30 PM
Orlando Dr. Phillips vs. Countryside @ 2:00 PM
Mitchell vs. Alonso @ 3:30 PM
George Jenkins vs. Nature Coast @ 5:00 PM
Armwood vs. Berkmar @ 6:30 PM
Lakeland vs. Fletcher @ 8:00 PM