Ponte Vedra High and Nease High met for the first time on the hardwood this season and it was the Sharks boys basketball squad that defeated the Panthers for the seventh consecutive time in the series, 46-35 on Friday, Dec. 6.
The Panthers came out of the gate playing their ferocious defense, which they have become known for over the years, as they were able to limit the Sharks’ high-scoring attack early on with the teams tied at five-all following the first quarter.
However, the Sharks eventually found their groove, especially from long range with four three-pointers, and began pouring on the points en route to outscoring the Panthers 16-6 in the second quarter and grabbing a 21-11 halftime lead.
Whenever these two teams meet it is always a back-and-forth battle, and the Panthers made adjustments and made a push in the third quarter behind their home crowd.
Jack Kuhl was the offensive catalyst for the Panthers as he scored eight of his game-high 10 points in the third quarter to help the Panthers cut the deficit to five points with one quarter to play.
The Sharks’ lead was cut to three but that was the closest the Panthers came to completing the comeback as the Sharks tightened up their defense and stretched the advantage back to double digits by the end to improve to 6-1 on the season.
Senior guard David Sanchez Barrera matched Kuhl with a game-high 10 points on the night, which was enough to make him the 14th player in Sharks’ program history to reach the 500-point mark in a career.
Six different Sharks made three-pointers in the contest, including two from senior Alex Katsikas.
The Sharks spread the ball around and had five players finish with five or more points on the night, as Katsikas was joined by Trace Westercamp and Maddox Palmer with six points apiece, while Andrew Speace tallied five.
It capped what was a good week for the Sharks with a 54-53 road win over University Christan on Tuesday, Dec. 3 and a 65-50 victory at home against Wolfson High on Thursday, Dec. 5.
With the loss, the Panthers dropped to 2-4 on the season but they had been riding a two-game winning streak heading into the rivalry matchup, including a 40-24 win over Paxon on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The Panthers will look to regain that momentum in the Annual Fortegra Invitational, which will take place in the gym at FSCJ South Campus in Jacksonville Dec. 12-14. Their opening game is scheduled against University Christian beginning at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 12.
The next meeting between the Sharks and Panthers will be on Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. with Ponte Vedra High hosting.
