A twenty-four game schedule has been laid out for the men’s basketball team and they’re off to a rocky start to the season with 1 win and 4 losses.
Saturday’s game against FSCJ (Florida State College Jacksonville) showed promise at the beginning of the game. As the match progressed, aggressive plays from freshmen Daniel Buchanan-Derice and Christian Anderson caused them to foul out of the game each obtaining 5 personal fouls.
“Sometimes when get players fouled out it hurts but you got to have your bench ready to go,” Coach Michael Jones said. “The bench really stepped up today, it’s the best I’ve seen the bench play.”
The improvement focus was set on Theaplais Williams, center (C) and power forward (PF) a 6’6” sophomore from Wesley Chapel.
“Even though we lost, he had a good game,” Jones said. “He’s been struggling a little bit but this game was a good game for him.”
“I feel really healthy, I feel good on the court,” Williams said. “I am like one of the main guys that they look for, so I just have to come out and play my best.”
So far leading the season is Daniel Jones with 52 points, 21 rebounds and Charles Grandison at 48 points, 27 rebounds. With 4 losses on the board, PHSC will need to show a stronger presence on the court to reach the playoffs.
“I’d rather have them peak at the second part of the season then now, so a lot of these games are test games to get them all prepared for the playoffs at the very end,” Jones said. “Of course you want to try to win them all, but the thing is we take these games and look at them as simulated games to prepare us for that one moment- that playoff game.”
There are nine freshmen athletes on the 2018-2019 roster:
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David Santiago | Bayshore Christian High School – Florida
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Chris Brown | Treasure Coast High School – Florida
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Antonio Tucker | Northside High School – Georgia
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Marion L. . Jones Jr. III | Godby High School – Florida
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Christian Anderson| Bayshore Christian High School – Florida
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Malcolm Williams | Santa Fe High School – Florida
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Camron Ginn-Mckinney | Rehobeth High School – Alabama
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Otto White | Lake Minneola High School
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Daniel Buchanan-Derice | Wesley Chapel High Schoo
“The freshmen still have to make the adjustments all the way through spring, and it takes a little while,” Jones said. “That’s part of being a college student athlete.”
Saturday’s results: FSCJ 94 – PHSC 77. PHSC faces FSCJ again on February 2, 2019.
