By FRANCIS FEDOR
While Hillsborough County schools took a two-week break for the holidays, a number of teams hit the hardwood for tournament action to stay in basketball condition. The South Shore Six (SS6) saw Sumner, led by head coach Augustine Gaddis, in action, traveling up to where I-75 and I-4 meet to play in the Seffner Christian City of Champions Classic. The Stingrays opened the tournament with a New Year’s Day match-up vs the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) Tampa team. The Rays got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 9-0 lead before the Spartans scored their first bucket, a three pointer, with 5:06 left in the first quarter. By 1:49 of the second period, the Stingrays had opened up a 33-10 lead and were cruising. Sumner was four points away from a running clock (occurs at a 35-point lead) but the Spartans weren’t ready to call it a night and got their best pressure of the game contesting the passing lanes and creating turnovers. In the end, the Stingrays finished the night with the win and wrote their name in the bracket to move on to a winner’s game vs Lakeland (the eventual winners of the bracket) the next day. Karson Coleman led all scorers with 17, connecting on 6 of 8 FGs.
Sumner Bennard Anson jostles for position on a free-throw rebound in win over SLAM Tampa on Jan. 1.
Stingray Karson Coleman contests a SLAM Tampa shot attempt in win over Spartans on Jan. 1. Coleman led Sumner with 17 points in the victory.
The Stingrays faced a tough 5-2 Lakeland Tiger squad on Friday, Jan. 2, and lost 72-55, unable to take advantage of a 22-point night from Bennard Anson. Sumner only subbed two players from the bench in the effort to get to the tourney championship game. Sumner closed out the tournament, hanging on for a solid win over the 10-5 Viera Hawks, 56-53 in a consolation game. Miles Moore put up 18 points, and Karson Coleman added 16 in the victory.
Another local team, covered in these pages last week, WCPA played the final game of the night but couldn’t replicate the success of the Stingrays and fell to Lakeland, 61-54. The WCPA Spartans recovered and won a match-up of the Jan. 1 losers, beating SLAM in a tight game, 79-77.
East Bay had a busy holiday season, playing four times in two separate tournaments, including a game in the Seffner tournament where the team lost 54-45 to North Tampa Christian Academy (7-9). The Indians played in the days prior to Christmas in the O’Connell Springstead Christmas tournament, scoring impressive wins over Land O’Lakes (10-6), 55-48 and the Nature Coast Tech Sharks (11-3), 55-48, before falling 81-44 to the Osceola Kowboys (11-4), and will return to regular season action with an 8-6 record.
Riverview saw action in the City of Tampa tournament and struggled with losses over Tampa Prep (12-3), 66-43, and Strawberry Crest (7-6), 66-58, before getting a confidence building 51-43 win over the Hillsborough Terriers to exit the pre-Christmas tournament on a positive note under head coach Anthoine Corpening. The Sharks had seven players score points in the game with Jaiden Woodson leading the way with 12 points. Woodson also led Riverview with 18 points in the game against Strawberry Crest and is the team leader to start 2026, averaging 10.3 points-per-game with a 56% FG Percentage.
Francis Fedor Photos
Sumner junior Immanuel Kelly finds space and sets up a 3-point opportunity in win over SLAM Tampa on Jan. 1.
Spoto, another SS6 member team, took part in the Nature Coast Tech Christmas Tournament in Brooksville, Fla., from Dec. 27 thru Dec. 29 and swept the three days, getting three much needed wins to boost the team’s confidence. First up were the Dunnellon Tigers and a 56-39 victory, following up that performance with a strong 61-53 win over the host, Nature Coast Tech Sharks, who only had two losses coming into the game. The Spartans were paced by senior Jerren Rodriguez’s 28-point night. Senior and two sport star Jesse Harden contributed 14. Spoto capped the tournament with a 55-47 win over Hillsdale with Rodriguez again taking the top spot in scoring with 22. Harden and Kelier Cintron contributed 10 points apiece for the Spartans. Spoto and head coach Bryce Moragne now have a three-game winning streak to build on as the 2026 segment of the schedule gets underway.
Teams will return to their regular season schedules, many playing in the days before this edition hits newsstands. On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Spoto (6-5) welcomes 8-5 King HS; Morgan travels to winless Middleton as the Mustangs look to improve on their 4-7 start and inch back to .500; East Bay plays a home game vs the Chamberlain Storm; and Lennard rounds out the night traveling into Tampa to play the Hillsborough Terriers in a match-up of two 2-9 teams.
All of the SS6 will be in action on Friday, Jan. 9, starting with Sumner’s taking on Bloomingdale in the Tank. Spoto hosts 3-12 Durant, East Bay travels to SS6 rival Riverview, Morgan heads up to Lithia to play the Newsome Wolves for the first time and Lennard plays Plant City for a Longhorn home game in Ruskin.
Stingray teammates head back to gather their belongings after writing their name in the bracket after win over SLAM Tampa on Jan. 1.
The following week, starting with Tuesday, Jan. 13, everyone is back on the courts with Sumner’s traveling to rival Durant; Spoto’s making the trip down to Big Bend Road to play East Bay; and Morgan’s heading up I-75 to play Plant City. Riverview travels into Ruskin to play Lennard, with the Longhorns’ coming off the only Jan. 12 game, having made a rare trip south to play Manatee, to complete a busy four-game stretch for Lennard.
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