Shorthanded Trojans Outgunned in Holiday Shootout

The woes continue for Lely High School's basketball team who dropped their first two games in the Palmetto Ridge Holiday Shootout Wednesday and Thursday at the Palmetto Ridge gym. Gulf Coast topped the Trojans 76-60 on Wednesday and Cape Coral turned the trick Thursday, 63-51. For their third game in the shootout, Lely faced North Tampa Christian on Friday, after the Coastal Breeze News' Christmas Edition deadline.

Lely’s roster has taken hit after hit during the first half of the basketball season.

"I'm still missing Gage Rice,” said Trojans head coach Fritz Jacques. "McAndrew Gaspard, my backup big is out. Concussion. Probably my most explosive scorer, Lovence Valcin, has the flu. Berdley Prophillien is out. It's just a crazy year for us. I've just gotta try to figure this out. So frustrating."

A healthier Trojan team defeated Gulf Coast (7-4), 52-50, in the first game of the season. Things didn’t go nearly as well on Wednesday. 

"We just didn't play well at all,” Jacques said. "Turnovers. We couldn’t buy a basket if we wanted to. They just outplayed us. Outcoached us. And it starts with me. I've got to get it right.”

While Cape Coral (8-4) was in control the whole way, Lely (3-7) whittled the lead down to four at 36-32, with 5:35 left in the third quarter. But they were never able to overtake the Seahawks.

“Then we had two turnovers in a row,” Jacques said, "and then a jump ball. We have to understand in those situations, you can't turn the ball over. And that's been our Achilles heel this season. And I've got to figure it out.”

The Trojans were led by Jayce Cora’s 11 points against Cape Coral. Wally Monpremier had eight. Sophomores Bryan Rodriguez and Richard Obus each had seven.

Lely gets a short break and then goes right back at it. They will be playing in the Evangelical Christian School New Year’s tournament on January 1-2. Then they host Immokalee (5-5), on January 4. Finally, they host the Don Stewart Shootout on January 5-6. Stewart, the longtime Lely coach, was Jacques’ high school coach.

"We'll go into a week of straight getting after it,” Jacques said, "and get prepared for a crazy January. We'll play five games in six days.”

Jacques said he needs to get his team figured out.

"I don't know how we match up versus anybody right now,” Jacques said. “We’ve just gotta get better. I can't really worry about other teams right now. We've gotta worry about getting healthy. Right now, I’m gonna have to figure out our rotation and go from there."