By FRANCIS FEDOR
The South Shore Six took to the courts for the week, starting Dec. 8, before the schools take a break for the holidays. Morgan traveled to East Bay and dropped a 70-44 decision as the Mustangs continue their inaugural match ups in the South Shore.
The Mustangs have struggled against SS6 competition after a promising win at Riverview in their second game of the season. The Indians moved to .500 on the season with the win. Lennard went on the road to Bloomingdale and scored an exciting win over the Bulls, 58-57. Spoto hosted Riverview, but it was the Sharks leaving with the 70-53 win in a battle of SS6 schools. Sumner soundly defeated Plant City 79-56 in the Tank, rounding out the night in the South Shore.
Morgan sophomore Andres Baltazar-Rosa on a breakaway lay-up attempt in win over the Longhorns on Dec. 12
Lennard senior Moises Abreu works against pressure in loss to Mustangs. Abreu scored 18, coming off a 25-point effort earlier in the week.
Francis Fedor Photos
Morgan sophomore Terry Wood elevates in pregame drill before thrilling overtime win over Lennard on Friday, Dec. 12.
The SS6, with the exception of Morgan’s having the night off, returned to action the next night, Wednesday, Dec. 9. Sumner took a trip into Tampa to face Gaither and couldn’t build on the momentum of the Plant City win, falling 65-49 to the 5-3 Cowboys. The Stingrays used six players, rotating a player from the bench to spell one of the starters. Bennard Anson led with 15 points. Anson has been the Stingrays leading scorer (or tied for the lead) in the last seven games and is averaging nearly 17 points-per-game in that stretch. Spoto hit the road to visit Freedom and couldn’t close the deal, losing 58-51 to the Patriots. Since their hot start to start the season, the Spartans have lost four in a row and are seeking a win to turn their fortunes. East Bay hosted Blake and celebrated a 58-44 win over the Yellow Jackets. Riverview dominated 0-8 Jefferson, 70-54, in front of the Sharks’ home crowd.
Lennard hosted the Leto Falcons in Ruskin and, while losing 72-61, made the Falcons work for the win. The Longhorns have been in games but are working on finishing. Lennard jumped out to a 25-23 lead, its largest of the game, with 3:38 left in the first half, but the Falcons made a late run to pull within two at the half. Leto took its first lead just as the third quarter came to a close at 47-46 and only built on that lead in the fourth to leave with the win. Moises Abreu starred for the Longhorns in scoring 25 points and rained seven three-pointers in front of the home crowd. The scoring outburst fell short in the loss, but was a huge night for Abreu and could bode well for the Longhorns in the second half of the season.
The week came to an end as Morgan completed its tour through the South Shore Six with a home tilt vs Lennard. The Mustangs came away with the thrilling, at least for the home audience, 69-68 OT win in a game that saw both teams exchange the lead late in the game. Morgan ran out to a 9-0 lead, but the Longhorns tied the game at 19 in the middle of the second quarter. Lennard took its first lead at 38-37 late in the third. It was short lived, but the teams battled to a deadlock at 54 apiece to send the game into OT. The Longhorns took the early advantage in OT and pulled out to a six-point lead. It was then that a wild sequence of Morgan free-throws pulled the Mustangs back into the lead and the eventual home win. It was one of those games when it was tough to be on the losing end. Both teams played with their hearts on their sleeve. Andres Baltazar-Rosa scored 16 for the Mustangs, including 12 in OT. Remington Fritts also had 16 for Morgan. Moises Abreu tossed in 18 for the Longhorns.
Bloomindale came out on top of Spoto, 82-55, extending the Spartans’ losing streak. East Bay visited Newsome and defeated the Wolves to extend its winning streak and has the best record in the SS6 at 6-4. The Stingrays capped the night of SS6 play with a road win over rival Riverview, 70-46, to pull back to one game above .500 on the season. Immanuel Kelly led the Stingrays with 19, and Devin Houston again led the Stingrays with 11 rebounds.
Longhorn senior Devin Freeman checks Remington Fritts in Mustang win over the Longhorns on Dec. 12.
Ruskin Christian continues its hot start to the season, is now 8-1 after a win over Central Baptist Christian and is out scoring opponents on an average of 17 points-per-game.
Teams will take the break and, in some cases, as has been documented in these pages in prior articles, will stay in shape by playing in various tournaments in the region. More information on those games can be found online using this link: https://tinyurl.com/usjj9mj9
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