Forgettable Friday Turns Into Super Saturday for MIA

As bad as Friday night was for Marco Island Academy, Saturday afternoon was every bit as good. The Rays hosted Donahue Catholic Friday night and came out on the short end of a 65-39 score. On Saturday, the Rays traveled to Babcock Ranch and scored an easy 73-45 win.

While the win against Babcock Ranch (5-9) was expected, the lopsided loss to Donahue Catholic (7-7) was a surprise. Just over a month ago the Rays beat Donahue 57-51 on the Shamrocks’ home court.

“It wasn’t our night tonight,” Rays coach Jim Watt said after the game. “We couldn’t find the hoop tonight.”

The only piece missing from the Rays lineup was a big one, their only big man, 6’4” Daniel Donaldson.

“We were missing Daniel Donaldson,” Watt said. “He’s a big body and an aggressive force. So we really missed him out there tonight. But it’s a product of their defense. Their defense is good and it got in our head and it rattled us a little bit. We’ve got a little bit of work to do.”

The Rays were down 18-12 when senior captain John Boxma received a cut under his right eye early in the second quarter. Blood gushed from the cut and Boxma had to be taken to the locker room for treatment. The Shamrocks pulled away after Boxma left the game, increasing their lead to 32-15 with 2:30 left in the first half. Boxma eventually returned but had to leave the game again in the fourth quarter when the bleeding returned.

MIA girls coach Travis Barry assisted Boxma with his injury.

“He got a boxer’s cut under his right eye,” Barry said. “It just exploded. It just wrecked his uniform. I put some of that Quick Relief on it and got the bleeding stopped, then put a butterfly on it. When it broke open again, we got it stopped. He wanted to go back in.”

Watt held Boxma out for the balance of Friday’s game, but Boxma was back in action Saturday against Babcock.

Watt was pleased with the way his team responded Saturday.

“It was a great bounce back game for the boys,” Watt said. “We won today with speed and defense.”

Grayson Jones led the way Saturday with 18 points. Shamus Coyle finished with 17. Against Donahue, Coyle was the high point man with 10 points. Jones and Gage Rice had nine each.

Watt likes the way his team has played this season.

"The season’s been going good,” Watt said. "The guys have been playing fast and hard. I’ve been real proud of them. They’ve really come a long way. We lost seven seniors last year. We play a really fast, defensive game. We don’t have a lot of big men, we have a lot of shooters. When our shooters are off, it’s hard to win.”

The loss to Donahue was the first Paradise Coast Athletic Conference loss for the Rays. Donahue’s only conference loss was to MIA.

"We may end up in a tie for the conference lead with Donahue,” Watt said. "It may come down to a coin flip to see who has home court advantage.”

The Rays (11-5) have four more regular season games remaining. They will celebrate Senior Night on Friday, January 20, against Village School of Naples at 7:30 PM.