By FRANCIS FEDOR
Sumner basketball ended its 15-12 2024-25 campaign with a 60-49 loss to top-seeded Plant in the district championship game. The Stingrays were looking to avenge a 7-point home loss on Jan. 8 and secure a berth to the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) tournament. The ’Rays earned a first-round bye as the second seed in the district tournament and faced Alonso in a second-round game. Sumner defeated the Ravens 53-47 in overtime, nearly matching the score from a match-up with the Ravens a week earlier when the team won 51-47 on the road.
The Stingrays played well in districts. The team stayed on the road after playing all its previous weeks games on the road. In the game vs. Alonso, the ’Rays went down 20-5 early. In a testament to Coach Gaddis, they clawed back to get to overtime, in part due to a key play by Amari Tuner, Karsten Walker and Anthony Bailey. Bennard Anson was a steadying force at point guard, directing play. In the championship game, the ’Rays took a 4-point lead into the half. Plant Coach Willis refocused his squad, and Sumner found itself down 7 at the end of the third to the Panthers on the road in a tough place to play and couldn’t make up that ground. Coach Gaddis liked what he saw of sophomore Emmanuel Kelly in the championship game and looks forward to what he’ll bring next season.
Statistically, the Stingrays exceeded the national average in a number of categories, as tracked by MaxPreps, a site under the CBS Sports umbrella used to track HS sports nationwide. The ’Rays scored 1587 points, well above the national average of 960 points, which works out to roughly 63 points a game. The team did a good job of protecting the ball, only turning it over 152 times with the national average at 249. Individually, Karsten Walker led all Stingray scorers at 15.5 points-per-game.
Anthony Bailey led in shooting with an 84 percentage.
The Stingrays, with a year under Coach Augustine Gaddis, will look to retool on a roster that loses eight seniors, including captains and team leaders Devin Baker and Karsten Walker. Coach Gaddis faced juggling a line-up around injuries and the loss of key senior Devin Baker down the stretch and still put the team in a position to have a chance at the state tournament. He coached his first season against the challenge of a schedule that included 10 teams that advanced to the state tournament. As for the graduates, Walker is going on to play at D3 Maine Maritime Academy; Devin Baker has offers at
FIU and Miami and is pending a decision; and Amari Turner is still undecided.
Stingray girls basketball defeated the Plant Panthers 60-49 in the second-round to advance to the district finals where they lost to the top seed in their district championship game, 55-49, on the road against Palm Harbor. The ’Rays have advanced to play in the state tournament on their strength of schedule and will open at #2 seeded Haines City in the first round as the #7 seed. Coach Marika Starks 16-10 squad looks to pull off the upset over the 20-5 Hornets to advance and play the winner of a #3 Venice vs. #6 Palm Harbor University match-up, which could be a rematch of the district finals, should both Sumner and Palm Harbor advance.
For more South Shore action, look for Steve Jackson’s write-up covering the other South Shore HS games.
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Photos available for purchase at https://www.maxpreps.com/photography/photographers/ Florida-Francis Fedor
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