Rosters set for PAL Manatee-Sarasota County Senior Basketball Showcase

Some of the top seniors from Manatee and Sarasota County will go against each other Saturday in the annual PAL Senior Basketball Showcase at Bayshore High.

The girls game tips off at 4:30 p.m. and the boys are scheduled to begin play at 6 p.m. Bayshore High's Jamaal Sanders will coach the Manatee County girls squad and Bruins head coach Shawn Campbell will coach the boys team.

Sarasota High girls coach Rob Jutras will coach the Sarasota County girls and Sarasota Christian head coach Phil Helmuth will coach the Sarasota County boys.

The Manatee County girls will feature Palmetto High's Blair Thomas and Lakewood Ranch's Gabriella Diaz-Granados two of the area's top scorers. Out-Of-Door-Academy's 1,000 point career scorer Mara Falahee will play for Sarasota County.

The Manatee County boys roster includes a trio from Braden River, which had the county's best record, in sharp shooting guard Tre' Bryant, Jeff Casseus and Tommy Bernhardt. The roster also includes Bradenton Christian leader scorer Joey Carolla. Out-Of-Door Academy 1,000 point scorer Maura Falahee will play for Sarasota County.

Here are the rosters:

MANATEE COUNTY:

Boys:

Bayshore: David Cruz, Vincent Scanes, Navjot Gill, Tyderian Jenkins, David Scavella, Jesus Ayvar

Bradeton Christian: Joey Carolla, Cameron Van Buren,

Braden River: Tre' Bryant, Tommy Bernhardt, Jeff Casseus, Eric Foster, Austin Lee

Lakewood Ranch: Brian Cobb, Zach Ainge, Winston Bridges

Manatee: Austin Gordon, Zach Haughy, Ryan Schroeder, Osiris Shabazz-Stephenson

Palmetto: Terreance Mann

Southeast: Cy'kobe Johnson

Girls:

Bayshore: Elissa Alvarez, Quinnia Streeter-Thurman

Lakewood Ranch: Gabriella Diaz-Granados

Palmetto: Blair Thomas, Kayla Moore

Southeast- Tiffany West

SARASOTA COUNTY:

Boys:

Booker: Jamal Gaines

Cardinal Mooney: Danny Stokes, Dylan Blakely, Nick Stallings, Cole Collins

North Port: Larry Taylor, Joe Wilber, Jeff Dormil

Out-Of-Door-Academy: Fred Porter

Riverview: Vince Cherry, Jeremy Jones, Eric Traver

Sarasota: Fernando Rivera, Jacob Carter, Alonzo Boezem, Tanner Weigand

Sarasota Christian: Logan Mayer

Venice: David Voigt, Nate Curtner, Zach Flerlage

Girls:

Booker: Breanna Browning

North Port: Keosha Harris, Ashley Mashaw

Out-Of-Door-Academy: Mara Falahee

Riverview: Brittany Mobley, Heather Horne, Lauren Wilson

Sarasota: Juliana Calvallaro, Kelly Jutras, Tarayn Burns, Mariah Williams

Venice: Laura Hackett, Hannaah Revels, Brooke Shipps,

Riverview controversy not new to Manatee County

The FHSAA ruling that Sarasota Riverview had to forfeit games because of improprieties involving former Bradenton Christian player Austin Walker brings back memories of Haminn Quaintance.

Known as “Q” he was one of the best basketball players Ken Ansbro coached during his 21 years with the Palmetto High basketball program (last 7 as head coach).

Quaintance transferred to Riverview for his senior year amid a lot of controversy. He had a solid career at Kent State and played professionally overseas.

Ansbro has never forgotten the day prior to his senior year when out of the clear blue sky Haminn came up and told him he was leaving.

“He was one of the best players I ever coached. To this day, I don’t know why he left. He just came up to me one day before his senior year and said he was going to Riverview. I gave up trying to figure those things out,” Ansbro said.

Rachel Brown eclipses 1,000 point barrier in Smoothie Classic

Rachel Brown broke the 1,000 career scoring barrier, but it wasn't enough to help her host Bradenton Christian team avoid a 52-47 loss to Englewood Lemon Bay (4-8), Tuesday night in the Smoothie King Classic.

The senior guard needed 19 points to reach the milestone and scored 20 to finish the night with 1,001 points. She scored her 1,000 point on a driving layup and added a free throw with 3:25 left in the game.

The game was the final of eight contests and did not end until 11:45 p.m. The BCS girls (5-5) take the floor again today at 2:30 when it plays Arcadia DeSoto County in a consolation round matchup.

In other late game Tuesday night, the Manatee High girls defeated DeSoto 46-39 to improve to 4-8. The Hurricanes were led by Jasmine Luther (12 points) and Taylor Wilson (11). DeSoto (4-6) got 19 points from freshman Tishona Riley.

TODAY'S SEMIFINAL:
Boys:
Cardinal Mooney vs Tamp Prep, 4 pm
Bradenton Christian vs Lennard, 7 pm
Girls
Braden River vs Bayshore, 5:30 pm
Manatee vs Lemon Bay, 8:30 pm

Consolation games:
Boys
Bayshore vs Pinellas Park, 10 am
Lakewood Ranch vs Community Christian, 1 pm
Girls
Cardinal Mooney vs Alonso, 11 am
Bradenton Christian vs DeSoto, 2:30 pm

Former Bayshore standout Derek Bishop to coach at Bradenton Christian

Derek Bishop, a former standout football player at Bayshore High and then Liberty University has joined the staff at Bradenton Christian.

In his senior season at Bayshore in 2005, Bishop broke the school's single season record for tackles with 129 (80 solos) and finished his high school career with 310 tackles. He was a force to be reckoned with racking up 10 tackles for losses and two sacks with three interceptions.

He was a part-time fullback at Bayshore. He turned that into his full-time job at Liberty where he was known for his blocking and toughness and had a productive career helping one if his teammates Rashad Jennings to rush for 1,500 yards in 2008.

Bishop will coach linebackers at Bradenton Christian. He learned under one of the best at Bayshore, playing for former Bruins coach Ray Woodie, an All-American linebacker in college and now an assistant coach at Western Kentucky.

BC's Magley says he won't be retiring

Dave Magley says we should all put to rest the rumors that he is going to step down as the Bradenton Christian boys head basketball coach after 11 years.

There was speculation the 51-year-old Magley would end his successful rein after this season because his son Daniel Magley, was graduating. But the elder statesman says no.

“I have no intention (to retire),” Magley said after his Panthers season ended Saturday night in a 68-44 Class A Region 2 championship game loss to Orlando Christian Prep.

“I’ve had refs from the Florida Gulf Coast Association asking if I am going to say goodbye and it’s a natural thought with my son leaving and all that. But I didn’t sign up for 11 years and I love the relevancy of being a coach.

“I am 51 years old and I understand the lingo of today’s kid and I want to be 61 and still get it and I want to be 81. If my dad had any regrets he was sitting around at 82 waiting to die and I don’t want to do that. I want to be relevant. That is the great thing about coaching is that you get to be relevant and at BC you get to ministry and I feel called to do that.”