By Kennedy Rosendahl
The Ponte Vedra High School boys basketball team had another successful week. First, they took on Stanton High School at home and won with a score of 83-40. Then, they played Wolfson High School away and won 66-30. Their toughest game was on Friday, Jan 14, against Fletcher High School. They won that game with a score of 52-49, by far their closest game that week. This brought the Sharks’ record to 16-2.
The Sharks had no trouble with the Stanton Blue Devils. They outscored them every quarter, and had 12 of their players score, the most this season. There were five Sharks players with double-digits: senior, Nathan Bunkosky with 16, senior, JT Kelly had 15, senior, Ross Candelino had 13, senior, Luke Pirris had 12, and junior, Ben Ritchie had ten. The Sharks went 50 percent from the three-point range and had a 58 percent field-goal completion rate. These high numbers gave the Sharks an easy victory at the beginning of the week.
The Sharks went 50 percent from the three-point range and had a 58 percent field-goal completion rate.
Their second game was against the Wolfson Wolfpack. Again, the Sharks had 12 of their players score. Candelino led the scorers with 15, followed by Pirris with 13 and junior, Israel Nuhu with 11. They went 40 percent from the three-point line this game, a little bit lower than last, but still more than enough to give the Sharks their winning token. The Sharks had only five turnovers, making each possession count during this game. They had a 49 percent overall field-goal completion rate for this game and brought home the win.
The toughest game for the Sharks came at the end of the week, against the Fletcher Senators. The game was highly anticipated, since both teams had skilled guards and winning records. The Senators outscored the Sharks both of the first two quarters and led at the end of the first half with a score of 22-17. In the third quarter, the Sharks came back and scored 17 points compared to the Senators seven, enough to put them on top. As regulation ended, the score was tied. In overtime, Bunkosky had a layup to get the Sharks going, and Kelly followed with a three and two free-throws. Bunkosky had one final free-throw to seal the win for the Sharks. The leading scorer for the Sharks was Candelino with 14 and Kelly and Bunkosky were close behind him with 13. While the game was not always in the Sharks’ favor, they got over 50 percent of the rebounds this game, and had 16 steals. Defense helped the Sharks make up for a lower 42 percent field-goal completion rate. Even though some of the Sharks’ numbers were lower, they still showed up to play a tough game, and grit and perseverance helped them pull out another win.
The three wins this week put the Sharks at a 12-game winning- streak. Next week, they have three home games against three big schools: Creekside, St Augustine, and Bartram Trail. If they carry their momentum with them from this week, they should have no problem winning their upcoming games.
