Sharks Dominate Hornets on the Hardwood

BROOKSVILLE — From start to finish and in every way possible the Nature Coast boys basketball team was dominant Friday night.

In a game that wasn’t ever really in question, Nature Coast defeated Weeki Wachee 80-53 as the Sharks (4-3) bounced back quite nicely from a close loss to Springstead earlier in the week.

“It was a good, solid win all the way around,” Nature Coast coach Dave Pisarcik said. “It’s always nice when you can get everyone some playing time. I think all of our players are very good and you can’t always get them all involved. But we got them all involved this time and that’s a very nice reward for the guys that usually don’t get much playing time.”

Long before Pisarcik started handing out rewards to his bench in the second half, the Sharks took immediate control of the game. Using a balanced attack, Nature Coast scored the game’s first 11 points and never looked back. The Sharks led 26-14 at the end of the first quarter and 46-22 at halftime as they defeated Weeki Wachee for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings of the two Hernando County schools.

In all, 12 of the 14 players that dressed for the Nature Coast varsity team ended up in the scoring column in a game in which Pisarcik was able to play his backups almost as much as his starters. But it was the Nature Coast starters that cleared the way for Pisarcik to get all of his players involved.

Senior point guard Xavier Bragg and senior shooting guard Jacob McPhail got hot early, combining for 13 points in the first quarter. Weeki Wachee didn’t even get on the scoreboard until Logan White made two free throws with 4:37 left in the first quarter. The Hornets only managed three field goals to go with eight free throws in the first quarter.

The Hornets fell to 0-8 on the season and haven’t won a game since February 6 of last season. After White’s two free throws cut the lead to nine points, Nature Coast quickly took a 15-2 lead after senior guard Jeremy Gonzalez came off the bench and made two layups in rapid succession. Weeki Wachee never again cut Nature Coast’s lead to less than double digits.

Nature Coast’s balance was on full display by halftime. Bragg led the way with seven first-half points, Elijah Davilla-Cruz nailed two of his three-point field goals in the second quarter. By halftime, Aveion Jackson, Blake Johnson, Sirus Johnson, Gonzalez, AJ Ramsaroop and Jaydon Simon each had scored at least four points.

“Balance is always good and it’s only going to help you in the long run,” Pisarcik said. “We have a lot of guys who can play, and I feel very comfortable going about nine or 10 deep. This time, we even went a little deeper.”

Week Wachee coach Marc Cianci tried to get the Hornets back in the game by employing a full-court press in the second and third quarters. But, outside of a few early hiccups that involved turnovers, the Sharks had little problem handling the press. By the end of the third quarter, Nature Coast had extended its lead to 61-37 as Ramsaroop scored six of his team-high 14 points in the quarter.

Both teams emptied their benches in the final quarter. After Ramsaroop, Nature Coast’s scorers were led by McPhail (12 points, including three three-point field goals), Gonzalez (nine points), Davilla-Cruz (nine points) Blake Johnson (eight points) and Bragg (seven points).

Although Weeki Wachee ended up with its third-highest point total of the season, the Hornets never were really in the game. White led Weeki Wachee with 16 points and Logan Beams added 14. The Hornets now face a grueling schedule with a games against Central, Hernando, Pasco and Hudson between now and Dec. 20.

Nature Coast heads into its pre-Christmas schedule with games against Lecanto (Dec. 17) and Wakulla (Dec. 20). Nature Coast also won the junior-varsity contest, defeating Weeki Wachee 57-41.