"It feels really good and I'm extremely proud," said head coach Tom Parks. "I said in the locker room that there are a few moments in my life that I can remember where I was more proud and those were extremely significant moments of my life. It means a lot to look back on the year and to think about where we were three weeks ago and the fact that the guys could play without confidence with the stretch. I'm so proud of the team."
In the first half, both teams were neck and neck in single digits until the Manatees pulled ahead with big baskets by sophomores D'Moi Hodge and Isiah Dasher and freshman Marshall Kearing to give the Manatees a 20-8 lead until the Eagles started to cut the deficit to single digits nearing the end of the half and even took a single digit lead with 4:30 left on the clock before sophomore Max Bell-Ramos and Hodge brought the Manatees back up for a 42-38 lead at the end of the first half.
Heading into the second half, the Manatees started to push themselves hard to try and get ahead in double digits, but while the Manatees were barely holding their lead the Eagles continued to push and cut the deficit, but in the end the Manatees stood their ground and were able to pull away with the win.
"I'm lost for words on what we did," said Hodge on winning the championship. "It was a great feeling to know that we got hopes that this season knowing that we lost seven games in the conference and bounce back to win the championship. Today we handled business and we knew we were the better team. We just had to be confident to know that we could handle that for 40 minutes."
"It feels amazing," said Kearing on winning the championship. "Being that I'm a freshman and didn't expect to come out like this for conference and I'm really happy how we did tonight."
"We worked really hard to get this far for it," said freshman Jordan Clark on winning the championship. "A lot of people thought we were not going to have a good season, but we turned it around."
Three Manatees scored in double digits and it was Hodge that led the Manatees on pace as he finished with 36 points (12-for-23 FG, 5-for-12 3PT, 7-for-7 FT), seven rebounds, six assists, one block and five steals.
Kearing followed one rebound shy of a double-double as he finished with a season-high 25 points (9-for-10 FG, 1-for-1 3PT, 6-for-8 FT), nine rebounds, four assists, six blocks and a steal.
"I was starting off a bit slow," said Kearing on his performance. "Which was how I was going so far this season, but in the second half, I came out a lot stronger, helping with scoring and stuff to help push the lead up."
"That was the quietest game I've seen with Marshall," said Parks on Kearing's performance. "I didn't even know he scored in double digits. Marshall is so efficient and that kid is too good."
Dasher rounded out the lineup with 11 points (4-for-11 FG, 1-for-5 3PT, 2-for-4 FT), seven rebounds, four assists and a steal, while Clark added nine points (4-for-9 FG, 1-for-3 3PT), three rebounds and two assists.
Sophomores Christnoff Scarborough (three points), Remy Robert II (two points, two rebounds and a block) and Bell-Ramos (six points and five rebounds) all contributed in the game for the Manatees. Robert II and Bell-Ramos were the only players that came off the bench.
For the Eagles, four players scored in double figures. Sophomore Malcolm Stevenson led the way with 20 points and five rebounds, while freshman Clearance Jackson followed with 12 points and five rebounds.
Sophomore Tekorian "TK" Smith finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while freshman Kameron Pauldo rounded out the order with 10 points and an assist. Smith was 2-for-22 on field goals.
Notes:
The five points in the first half for Hodge helped him as he now holds the record for most points in a single season, which was previously held by James Life (762, 2004-06). Hodge now has 794 points this season and 1,392 in his career.
"It's feels good to know I came here and did what I knew I could do," said Hodge on setting the single season record. "I knew I could come to this school and change the program around and I came and did it in a fashionably good way."
"It's pretty cool within my two seasons of the program and D'Moi first two year program that he was able to do that," said Parks on Hodge setting the season record. "I guess the coolest thing about D'Moi breaking those record is that when he was asked about it, he said it was 'really cool until someone else comes along to try and break it. That's just D'Moi and it's cool how his mind works. He's an incredible basketball player and extremely humble and that just shows his humility. Although I think he's wrong about it because it will take some time for that to happen. I don't know that there has been a better player I coached than D'Moi."
Dasher's 11 points put him at 979 and needs 21 to reach 1,000 career points and be the second active player to do so. Dasher still has a chance to reach 1,000 career points when they get to states.
After the game, the Manatees returned home to do the net cutting at Hal Chasey Gymnasium instead of at Polk State. I even got to be a part of the ceremony and cut a piece of the net for writing up all the stories that they did, which was pretty cool to say the least.
Personal Opinion: It did make sense to cut the net at our gym because if we cut the net at Polk State's gym, then chances are there would be a very heated hostility and someone could actually get hurt during the ceremony and could lead to possible consequences on Polk State and possibly on us despite us not antagonizing it.
Up Next:
The Manatees will be ready for the state tournament in Niceville, hosted by Northwest Florida State, March 4, 6-7. Their opponent will be #10 Tallahassee CC (25-5) Wednesday night, March 4 at 7 pm EST/6 CST. The Eagles were named the Panhandle Conference Regular Season Champions this season.
1 comment:
Great job pat
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