Lakewood Ranch beats Mount Bethel Christian of Georgia and North Port downs Fort Myers Bishop Verot

PUNTA GORDA

The North Port and Lakewood Ranch High boys basketball teams turned up the defense early to post victories in one of the area’s top showcases.

The Bobcats rolled to a 20-point lead in the first quarter to blitz Fort Myers Bishop Verot, 64-43, at the 12th Annual Wally Keller Classic on Saturday afternoon at Charlotte High School.

The Mustangs scored the game’s first 10 points and never looked back in a 61-43 decision over Mount Bethel Christian of Georgia.

In other action, Riverview dropped a 55-53 verdict to Fort Myers Canterbury. Venice faltered down the stretch of an 82-85 loss to Cape Coral.

NORTH PORT 64, BISHOP VEROT 43

The Bobcats stormed out to a 25-5 advantage and opened a 34-15 edge at halftime.

“We came out and really were focused on the defensive end,” North Port coach Ryan Power said. “It allowed us to get into transition. We forced Bishop Verot to play from behind, which is a tough task to do.”

Bryan O’Boyle, who set the school record for points in a game (41) and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in the past nine days, scored 18 points and was named the Bobcats’ player of the game.

“It’s just a testament to how hard he’s worked. You can see his hard work has paid off,” Power said on O’Boyle.

Ben Via also scored 18 for North Port (14-5). Aaron Dismukes chipped in with 14 points in the winning effort.

“Defensively, we’re starting to see when we rotate and key in on the defensive end, it can open up our offense,” Power said.

LAKEWOOD RANCH 61, MOUNT BETHEL CHRISTIAN (Ga.) 43

The Mustangs held the Eagles without a point for the first 6 minutes, 42 seconds.

“We have been talking about our defense and defensive field goal percentage, and it hasn’t really clicked until the last few games,” Lakewood Ranch coach Jeremy Schiller said. “The scary part is if we can play that level of defense and find our rhythm on offense, we can be really, really special.”

Damien Gordon tallied 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists to earn player of the game honors for the Mustangs (14-4). Keon Buckley also had 16 points. Evan Spiller contributed nine points and six rebounds. Christian Shaneyfelt pulled down nine board. Joshua Young had seven points, six rebounds and was praised by Schiller for his defense.

Lakewood Ranch permitted two offensive rebounds to the Eagles, while pulling down 16 itself. The Mustangs also limited Mount Bethel Academy, which also lost Friday night to Miami Christian in the event, to 29 percent shooting from the floor.

“I’m proud of where we are at right now, but we’re still not to where we can get to,” Schiller said. “Today was another step forward. We could have had a bunch of excuses instead we came out and played really well, especially defensively.”

CANTERBURY 55, RIVERVIEW 53

The Rams got to within two points on a three-point play by Malachi Wideman, who was fouled on a poster dunk with 1:54 remaining, but they were the final points of the game.

“What really hurt is was the runs we gave up,” Riverview coach B.J. Ivey said after his team permitted a 9-0 spurt to close the half and an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter to put the Rams behind. “Then we had to fight back. We had a couple of opportunities, but didn’t grab enough rebounds to win the game.”

The Rams permitted 14 offensive rebounds in the second half.

“It’s tough to win a one-possession game when you give up that many second shots,” Ivey said. “We’re getting better, but we’ve got to keep improving.”

Wideman finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists and was named Riverview’s player of the game. Tyrus Jackson added 13 points for the Rams, who were coming off a two-point game Friday night against Tampa Alonso.

CAPE CORAL 82, VENICE 75

The Seahawks broke a 73-all tie with two straight layups and closed the game with a 9-2 spurt to put away the Indians.

James Gibson and Brian Markovich dropped in layups to put Cape Coral (12-6) in front for good. Brett Keyso hit a jumper for Venice to make it a two-point game. After three straight timeouts, the Seahawks closed the game with three free throws and a layup.

“We didn’t close it out,” Venice coach John Flynn said. “It was a super effort. We just didn’t get defensive rebounds when we needed it at the end. I’m happy with how we are playing though.”

It was the third game in the 12-year history of the Wally Keller Classic where both teams scored 75 points.

Harwin Francois led all scorers with 20 points and was named player of the game for Cape Coral. Reece Jackowiak led the Indians with 16 points and was named their player of the game.

Dyaan Gregoire (15), Chason Rockymore (13) and Trent Holloway (10) also reached double figures in scoring for Venice.