While school was out for winter break, several Plant City area basketball teams were still in action as they took to tournaments throughout the state to put their skills to the test against top competition.
Durant:
Durant’s holiday season began with an individual award as junior guard Aidan Jones Jr. was named PrimeTimePreps’ Boys Basketball Player of the Week from the week of Dec.13-Dec.18. The award came on the heels of Durant’s 77-71 win over East Lake in which Jones led all scorers with 26 points on eight of 13 shooting from the field, including six of 10 shooting from three.
Beginning on Dec. 21, Durant’s boys team headed to Jacksonville for the Battle on the Island tournament where they went 1-2 overall, with losses to Cardinal Mooney and Valdosta before wrapping up the tournament with a narrow – and high-scoring – 89-88 win over Episcopal School of Jacksonville.
Jones was also named to the all-tournament team, averaging 21.4 points per game.
The boys returned to the court on Dec. 28 for the Suncoast Holiday Classic in Riverview. They kicked off the tournament facing, and falling to, Cardinal Mooney for their second time in a week. But the Cougars bounced back with a 74-70 victory over Venice after trailing by 12 at the half. In their final game of their holiday tournaments, Durant lost in a narrow 54-50 final against Newsome.
Durant’s girls basketball team was in action over the holidays as well, taking an 8-1 record into the winter break. At the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational, Durant opened the tournament by cruising to a 57-36 victory over Palm Bay’s Heritage High School, led by junior Miani Mejia who led all scorers with 23 points and fell just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Following the win over Heritage, Durant finished the tournament with a close loss to Providence Christian Academy out of Murfreesboro, Tenn. and a loss to Sarasota’s Booker High School.
Plant City:
For Plant City, their boys basketball team headed to the Nature Coast Christmas Tournament in Brooksville, hosted by Nature Coast Tech.
The Raiders opened the tournament with a big 68-48 win over Fort Myers’ Evangelical Christian School but dropped a nail-biter in the tournament semifinals as Ohio’s Brecksville-Broadview Heights orchestrated a strong second half comeback to escape with the 57-55 victory. To cap off the tournament, Plant City beat the hosting Nature Coast Tech 57-33 to take third place.
Plant City’s D.J. Haynes and Mike Bell were both named to the all-tournament team for their performances.
Against Evangelical, Bell led all scorers with 24 points while Haynes notched 11, along with a team-high eight rebounds. Against Brecksville-Broadview Heights, Haynes put together a double-double with a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds and Haynes led the way against Nature Coast too, adding another team-high seven rebounds while he and Elijah Dawson led the team with 12 points each.
Strawberry Crest:
For Strawberry Crest, their boys team headed to Gainesville for the Florida Get Down Holiday Showcase.
On New Year’s Day, the Chargers fell 54-41 to Gainesville’s P.K. Yonge School. Jasiah Taylor and Jordan Lewis both had double-digit scoring, with 12 and 10 points respectively, while Taylor also finished tied for a team-high four assists.