Lely Falls in Second Round of Thanksgiving Classic

Lely head coach Jacques Fritz during a late-game timeout.

Sophomore Jayce Cora battles St. Brendan’s Jonathan Gonzalez for a rebound.

It’s hard to tell who’s going to come up with this rebound.

2. Junior Anthony Deibis connects on a third quarter three.tif

Junior Anthony Deibis connects on a third quarter three with his teammates following through from the bench.

Freshman Erwin Curry plays tight defense for the Trojans.

Senior Josue Cherenfant looks for an open man.

Mark Belizaire drives to the hoop. The senior scored 15 points for the Trojans.

Senior point guard Dave Louidor executes a no-look pass. When he wasn’t passing, Louidor was leading the Trojans with 25 points, including a triple three-pointer stat.

Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2022 7:00 pm

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By: Scott Shook

Lely head coach Jacques Fritz knows Friday night’s see-saw 68-64 loss to Miami St. Brendan in the Barron Collier Thanksgiving Classic will not define his young team. But the veteran Trojans mentor likes what he sees.

St. Brendan, coming off a 22-7 season last year, played the sharpshooting game they’re known for against Lely.

“They’re a shooting team,” Jacques said, “that’s the thing about shooting teams. A team that shoots a lot of threes, you have to be careful. You can’t have a lot of turnovers. I’ve got three freshmen, two sophomores, a lot of young kids. We’ll get better, I’ll tell you that.”

Friday’s game saw five second half lead changes before St. Brendan got on top to stay when they pulled ahead 51-50 with 7:19 left in the game. They stretched their lead to 65-57 with 1:33 left.

The Trojans battled back, though, and trimmed the lead to 65-61 with 50 seconds left. But they could get no closer.

Things got tough when senior leader Roy Obsaint fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

“Roy’s one of our top three players,” Jacques said. "He was reaching, we talk about that. He’s playing with his hands.”

The Trojans were led by senior point guard Dave Louidor with 25 points, including three three-pointers. Mark Belizaire had 15 points for Lely. Obsiant had nine points before fouling out.

Jacques respects his East Coast opponent.

"St. Brendan (2-0) is always tough,” he said. "They compete to the end.”

Jacques thinks this Trojans team has a chance to be special. They opened the season with a 76-49 trouncing of Mariner in the opening round of the tournament.

“It’s fire on fire with us right now,” Jacques said. "This team can be real good. It’s a young team. Once I create the depth - we’ve got so many young guys - we can be very solid. We’re going to work and get better."