It should be a matter of size vs speed as local favorite Fort Myers takes on Sanford School out of Delaware.
Sanford got on the board first with a free throw but Fort Myers scored the next six points, four by Landon Howard, to lead 6-1 with 5:37 left in the opening quarter. It didn’t take long for Sanford to re-assert itself as junior big Nnanna Njoku scored six straight points, one a vicious slam off an offensive rebound, to take a one-point lead. A three from Javian McCollum of Fort Myers returned the lead to the Green Wave, but Sanford School close out the quarter with a 7-2 run to enter the second quarter up by three, 14-11.
Jyare Davis of Sanford School scored the first four points of the period, pushing their lead to seven at 18-11. Fort Myers came back on the efforts of McCollum, as he scored all six of their points during a 6-2 run to get to within three at 20-17 with just over five minutes to go in the period. Sanford responded swiftly and sternly, going on an 11-0 run, five of those from Davis, to push their advantage into double digits at 31-17. Fort Myers didn’t quit, scoring the final five points of the quarter to make the margin nine, 31-22, at intermission.
Coming out of the break, Fort Myers got some bad news as star guard McCollum came out of the locker room with ice on his right (shooting) hand. Still, Fort Myers did all they could in the opening moments of the third to get back into the contest. They were within five, 33-28, after a three from Brady Luttrell, with just over five minutes to play. Sanford School flexed their collective muscles, putting up a 7-0 run over the next three minutes to push their lead to twelve, 40-28. Da’Mani Brown broke the spell for Fort Myers with a mid-range bucket, but a three from Corey Perkins of Sanford negated that. The Green Wave it one more bucket before the buzzer and Sanford was up 43-32.
Fort Myers extended their defensive pressure at the star of the fourth and got as close as eight, 44-36, with just over six minutes to play. From there Sanford School ran clock, forcing Fort Myers to chase and ultimately foul. There was no scoring for nearly four minutes of game time, but the outcome was inevitable. Sanford School would extend their lead from the foul line and go on to win by the score of 52-38.
Sanford was led by 17 points from Corey Perkins while Njoku added 14 points and Davis tallied 13 points.
MCollum led Fort Myers with 11 points despite playing just half of the contest.