By STEVE JACKSON
Sumner High School is the only one of the five South Shore boys basketball teams with a winning record (10-7) as they enter the final week of hoops action. District play starts Feb. 8. Win or end runs Feb. 9 and Feb. 11. Regional play starts for survivors Feb. 17.
The Spoto Spartans finally notched win number four. On a Seniors Night at Spoto, the Spartans took care of winless Brandon, 67-53. Top scorer for Spoto was junior Ben Walker with 21 points. Senior Ian Paravisini-Farrington chipped in 13 points while soph Jose Deleon pulled down 16 boards. The 4-13 Spartans were whipped twice later last week by Durant and by Leto. Spoto ended its regular season against 7-12 Gaither Jan. 25.
Lennard senior Tremayne Williams has been a consistent scorer at 13 ppg and a defensive stealer as Longhorns wrap up regular season at home this Thursday versus 1-22 Tampa Bay Tech.
Junior Ben Walker has paced Spoto High with a 17 points per game scoring average this season.
The East Bay Indians lost to Plant City last week, 63-56. The Indians look to bolster their district seed and regular season 5-10 worksheet with four more games. A road trip to 11-9 Strawberry Crest for a 7 p.m. tipoff Jan. 28 follows an 8 p.m. game at East Bay versus the 11-4 Blake Yellow Jackets on Jan. 27. Mid-week East Bay was at home trying to slow down the 7-12 Robinson Knights and high scoring Myron Thomas. The Indians trek to Zephyrhills Feb. 2 for a tough regular season finale with the 15-2 Bulldogs at 7:30 pm.
FRANCIS FEDOR Photos
Girls high school basketball district tourneys run Feb. 1, Feb. 2 and Feb. 4 next week. South Shore teams expected to contend include East Bay, Riverview, Lennard with winning records. Also anticipating seeds are Sumner and Spoto. Above, East Bay’s Felicia Simon boxes out Lennard’s freshman Kyah Vance as teams split two games in regular season, which concludes this week.
Riverview High has struggled this season and hopes to end a three-game losing streak this week, prior to district play. The Sharks host 7-12 Gaither at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 with 6-6 senior Tawfig Thomas scoring nearly 20 points per game for the Tampa visitors. Riverview visited 6-12 Steinbrenner Jan. 25, looking to improve the Sharks 2-13 mark after one-sided defeats to Durant and to East Bay last week.
Meanwhile, the Lennard Longhorns are striving to snap an eight-game losing skein. The Longhorns held Seniors Night Jan. 25 against the tough 15-7 Leto Falcons. Tampa Bay Tech visits Ruskin Jan. 27, and Lennard ends its regular season against 7-12 Gaither at 7 p.m. on Jan 28 in Tampa. In an 86-57 loss to King last Friday, the Longhorns got 14 points from heralded soph Nigel Roseboro. Junior Terell Mitchell added 11 points, and contributing 9 points each were junior Jeremiah Emmons and senior Tremayne Williams. Williams is the team’s leading scorer with 13 a game while Jonathon Olodude is racking up 5 rebounds each game.
