American Heritage 63, Miami Norland 51

We played a very good Norland team today at the McDonald's Classic in Tampa. The game was a good game, with both teams ready to play. I challenged our guys today in the locker room to come out and play the 1st 4 minutes like we played the 3rd quarter last night. Our team responded by playing well for 32 minutes, and we were able to pull off the double digit win against one of the best teams in the state. I respect and admire Coach Williams at Norland so much for the way his players play with heart and desire, and I was sorry that someone had to lose today. My congratulations go to our entire team, with happiness toward Brandon Hando for making his 1st start of the year, and to Bill Slade who played really well. Today was our 7th game in 10 days, but it was the same for Norland. This was a good win for our team and our program. We will go back to the tournament tonight for the slam dunk contest and the 3 point contest. I would love to see a Patriot win one of those events.
Last night was a tough one for us. We played the late game on the big court and we fell behind early - by 17 at the half. We rallied to take the lead, but failed to finish the game with the victory. I KNOW our kids learned from the mistakes made in the closing seconds of that game, and I know we will be ready to close out games in the future.

American Heritage 80 , Reno (NV) Galena 68 @ McDonald's Classic

Our first round game at the McDonald's Classic is in the books as a win - an 80 - 68 win over the defending state champion from Nevada, Reno Galena High School. While we won by double digits, it was not without a fight as we found ourselves down by 12 in the 3rd quarter before finding our way and playing at a higher level and pulling out the win. Eloy Vargas was good tonight, and Kenny Boynton was his usual very good, and we were able to enjoy contributions from Everton Chin, Bill Slade, Brandon Hando, Jake Wheeler, and Jordan Katz. This was a good win for us, as we were able to move onto the quarterfinals. The Reno Galena team is pretty good - with Nevada signee Luke Babbitt leading the way. He is really good, and our guys were up to the challenge of guarding him.
Tomorrow night at 7:30 on the main floor of the USF Bulls we will take on a very good Christian Life team, from Humble, TX. That will be a tough matchup for us, but knowing our guys we will be ready and up for the task.
I was really happy with our guys effort off the court, as they really have been trying hard to do the right things and act the right way off the court. I have come to respect our guys a lot, and today was another day that confirmed that thinking.

Kenny Boynton scores 61 as American Heritage wins at City of Palms

Congratulations go out to Kenny Boynton as he set the all time scoring record for one game by scoring 61 points in our game yesterday. Kenny made 22 of his 33 shots, and that includes 11 made 3 pointers out of the 18 that he attempted. We played without Eloy Vargas, and, with Raymond Taylor slowed with the flu and an extremely sore shoulder, KB knew he had to step it up. His teammates could feel that he was on, and the ball kept going in for him!
On a personal note I am happy for him - and want him to feel good about his accomplishment. He is a terrific young man that is humble and hard working, and not once has he ever talked about individual accomplishment with me - his coach. In fact, the first thing he said to me after this game is - "I'm just glad we won the game". That is good stuff.
We concluded the tournament with a 2 - 2 record. We came to Ft Myers with the goal of winning the tournament and obviously did not reach that goal. I nonetheless am content with the week, as we realized how good we can be.
We depart for Tampa on Wednesday, and we will be playing in the inaugaral McDonald's Classic at the University of South Florida. I cannot wait.
Merry Christmas to all - enjoy your family time and a short break.

American Heritage 63, Bishop Verot 59

Today we earned our first victory at the City of Palms tournament. We played a good Bishop Verot team, and came out with the win by 4. We were able to keep Kenny on the floor without foul trouble, and our offense wasn't bad. We ended up winning despite having an awful game rebounding the ball. We were able to ice the game down the stretch and pull out the victory. We ate a good meal at Beef O' Brady's, and then spent some down time at the hotel. We returned to the gym for the 3 point contest, and we had 2 guys compete - Raymond Taylor and Bill Slade. Both guys shot it decently well, but were not able to be victorious. We finished off the night with a trip to Dairy Queen. Eloy has been complaining about his ankle again, so we will visit the trainer in the morning and see whether he will play. I hope he is good to go.

New Hope (MS) 82, American Heritage 78

Tonight was our 1st City of Palms game. We played well enough to win, but we also never put the game out of reach. I thought as the game went on that we would be victorious, but several things happened along the way. Kenny Boynton struggled to stay on the court with foul trouble (he played 15 minutes out of 36 total). KB is good enough - and smart enough - to avoid silly fouls, but we couldn't keep him on the floor. Jake Wheeler fouled out, too (in 13 minutes), which meant we were playing without 2 starters, and as you know, Eloy Vargas played his first game tonight in 2 weeks, so conditioning was a factor for him. We gave up a 2nd half lead and fell in overtime to the #1 ranked team in the state of Mississippi. We had several individual performances that were impressive - including our guards Everton Chin and Raymond Taylor.

We play the host school today (Bishop Verot) in what should be a great game. Go Patriots!

American Heritage 74 Pine Crest 71

We are 1-0 in our district! Tonight, at the sold out and LOUD American Heritage gym, we were able to hold off a very game Pine Crest team in a district matchup at home. I was happy we won, but I also know that we need to get better before the district tournament begins. I think our players know that, I KNOW our coaches know that, and now the challenge of actually DOING that begins. I cannot wait. Thanks to all of you that helped tonight be a success.