Zion Lutheran’s Vince Stubbs (left) goes up for two points in a game against Wellington Christian’s Charlie Brown.Photo by Gary Curreri

By Gary Curreri

While Blanche Ely and Deerfield Beach boys’ basketball teams are within one game of the state final four in their respective classes, another local team, Zion Lutheran Christian School, had a stellar season.

Zion Lutheran boys basketball coach John Guion said he couldn’t have been happier with his first year at the school. The Lions finished the season at 16-6, but suffered a first round loss in the district tournament.

“We set the bar high for the future of Zion basketball,” said Guion, who moved to South Florida from North Carolina to take over the program.

“We look to improve upon our success next season. Losing in the first round of districts was a disappointment that will fuel our hunger to get better in the off-season. I want to especially thank our administration, parents and student body for the support they gave us through the season.”

Guion moved from Charlotte, North Carolina. He has family and friends in South Florida.

“I really liked the feel of the place,” Guion said. “I knew they were coming off some rough years and that they had an Athletic Director here, Cody Loomis, who wanted to do things the right way, and turn the program in a right way.”

“I know their middle school team had also gone to nationals and had success there,” added Guion, who had four players from the middle school team playing varsity this season: Vince Stubbs, Manny Rojas, Keith Stone and Hunter Redeker. He said the team also got a stellar season from senior Bruno Mendoca who averaged 23 points a game.

“They had a good feeder program and I knew that I could develop a program here, not just a basketball team.”

Guion said the intensity of playing high school basketball and the structure of playing a varsity school was an adjustment for his young team. He said he gave them “small bites” of what to expect.

“They had never heard of a scouting report before,” said Guion, whose team ran off eight consecutive wins at one point.

“I wanted to give them time and not overwhelm them. I thought we’d come in here and, if we got them to have a .500 season, that would have been a great job. This was the most resilient group of kids I have ever been around. We still have a lot of maturing to do.

“It wasn’t important for us to win this year,” Guion added. “We just wanted to compete every night, get better at what we are doing and see the growth there. Winning wasn’t the obstacle. We just want to build the program the right way.”

Ely rallies; holds off Raiders

Benji Bell scored a game-high 24 points as host Blanche Ely (27-2) rallied for a dramatic, 56-52 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in a Class 7A regional semifinal on Tuesday night.

The Tigers, ranked No. 19 in the most recent ESPNHS Powerade Fab 50, will now travel to Atlantic for a regional final on Saturday.

“St. Thomas really outplayed us for the first three quarters,” said Blanche Ely coach Melvin Randall. “We just started to pick it up and dug in during the fourth quarter and played Ely basketball … I think I aged about 10 years.”

Bucks top Cypress Bay

Marcus Owens led Deerfield Beach with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Terence Johnson added 18 points as the host Bucks held off a late charge by Cypress Bay, 64-57, to advance to its first regional final since 1999, when it won the Class 6A state championship.

The Bucks (24-4), who also received eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Janoris Jenkins, will host Spanish River on Saturday night.

Fifth-year coach Kenny Brown said his team, composed mostly of sophomores and juniors, has the ability to win state if they cut down on the turnovers and missed free throws that plagued them Tuesday night.

“They just have to settle down,” said Brown, whose starting unit has been intact for three years. “It is so hard for some reason for them to relax and we are winning. I am like, why are we rushing? Take your time, spread the floor and play basketball.”

If anybody was hoping that after a 1-11 Football Season that there would be better results for the FAU Men’s Basketball Team, then think again. Going into Monday night’s road game against Arkansas State, FAU was 5-11, 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

FAU’s latest loss, the Owls offense failed to show-up in Little Rock, as Arkansas Little Rock won a 40-38 contest Saturday night. That’s correct, 40-38, as both teams combined to score a mere 78 points. FAU scored 20 points trailing 22-20 at half-time.

Thus far, the highlight of the 2011-2012 FAU Season occurred at the Orange Bowl Classic, as the Owls lost a 93-90 double overtime contest to the Miami Hurricanes. Omari Grier led FAU with 27 points.

Miami leads the all-time series against FAU 21-1 as FAU’s last win against the Hurricanes occurred on Dec. 3, 2002, 74-73 in Boca Raton. This game set Orange Bowl Basketball Classic records for most assists (41) and 3-pointers made (29) and tied for most field goals made (63) and 3-pointers attempted (49). This was only the second game in Orange Bowl Classic history where both teams eclipsed the 80-point plateau, joining Florida’s 94-93 double-overtime win over Miami in 2002.

FAU now stands 0-2 all-time in Orange Bowl Classic play.

When the game was over, Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga had nothing but positive things to say about the Owls.

“My hats off to Florida Atlantic, their coaches and their team for the outstanding job they did,” Larranaga said. “Their 3-point shooting was incredible, the way they got those threes with tremendous dribble penetration and kicking it out. We were very concerned about that going into the game and it proved to be very true.”

Will there be any more Miami vs. FAU Men’s Basketball games in the future?

“Yeah, if they came to our place every other year,” FAU Coach Mike Jarvis said. “We would love to continue to play them, but they don’t want to play in Boca. So, we’ll ask them again if they’ll play home and home, and if they don’t want to play a home and home, then we probably won’t play them again.”

Since the Miami loss, FAU has lost four of the last five games. Those losses have come against Harvard, Siena, Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas Little Rock.

The Owls next home game is Saturday, Jan. 14 against Middle Tennessee State at 7 p.m. During the next month, FAU travels to Miami to face Isiah Thomas’ FIU Golden Panthers on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. The two teams meet again on Feb. 4 in Boca Raton at 7 p.m.

Scott Morganroth can be reached at www.scottsports33.com.

Highlands Christian Academy hosted its annual summer basketball camp recently. Trophy winners for opening week pictured (L to R) (Back row): Cameron Caputo, Marvin Jean-Pierre, Herman Robinson, D.J. Kottke, Vance Houston, Tyler Bronson, George Giourgas; (Front row): Jordan Willis, Emily Teason, Allyson Steincamp, Lettie Cronin, Riley Berry, Danielle Domino, Karl Schuberth, Dylan Farrell. Submitted photo

By Gary Curreri

Highland’s Christian Academy held its annual summer basketball camp at the campus recently.

There were two sessions this summer – boys and girls’ grades 7-12 (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and grades 2-6 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.).

Reg Cook, the summer sports camp director and former long-time basketball coach and athletic director at the school, began the basketball camp in the early 1980s. Jim Good (head boy’s varsity coach), along with Luke Still (head boy’s JV coach), Josh Good (head boy’s JH coach), and Lindsey Shein (HCA alumnus) were the camp coaches.  Several high school athletes worked the second week of camp to earn community hours.

There were 55 campers in the first session and an additional 60 campers in the second session.

“Once again, our summer basketball camp was a success,” said Jim Good. “It’s a great environment with quality coaches who are not only teaching the game of basketball, but also the game of life. What a great opportunity we have to share our love for the Lord and also our love for the game of basketball.”

Good said the morning session included a devotional given by a coach followed by some warm-up activities, ball handling and dribbling. He said they then began their Gatorade and trophy contests.

The trophy contests included 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 competitions, free throw competition and hot shots. The campers would travel by bus for lunch at a Chick-fil-A or CiCi’s Pizza.  Then, they would return for afternoon 5-on-5 full court games.

Simply Soccer Camp returns

The Simply Soccer summer camp plans to hold its 5th camp in the city of Pompano on Aug. 15-19. Registration will be held at the Pompano Beach Civic Center. The soccer camp is for boys and girls, ages 5-14, of all skill levels, who will be taught a variety of soccer skills from dribbling to shooting.

There are three sessions each day (for the Pompano camp) ranging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (cost is $115 weekly); extended hours camp is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $130 each week, and a Tiny Tot program is offered for kids ages 5 and 6 from 9 a.m.to noon for $60 weekly.

Campers must bring a soccer ball, swimsuit, shin guards, water bottle and lunch.

You can register at the Pompano Civic Center at 1801 NE 6 St. in Pompano Beach from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. For more information, call the city of Pompano Parks and Recreation Department at 954-786-4119.

By Gary Curreri

Highlands Christian Academy grad Andrew Smith, above, is named to the Class 1A all-state first team. Photo by Gary Curreri

Andrew Smith leaves a legacy at Highlands Christian Academy as he heads off to Liberty University in Lynch-burg, VA.

The Orlando Sentinel and SourceHoops.com recently named the 6’ 8”, 190 lb. guard/forward, who received a full basketball scholarship to Liberty University, to the Class 1A All-State team.

Also named to the first team were Ismaila Dauda, a Grandview Prep senior; Jean Prophete and Farad Cobb (who helped lead Summit Christian to the Class 1A state basketball title) and Jordan Warner, of Florida A and M.

Smith, one of the Knights’ captains and leaders, played basketball since fourth grade at Highlands Christian Academy, where he played elementary, junior high, junior varsity and three years of varsity.

 Deerfield’s Pellitteri headed to FSU for beach volleyball

Deerfield Beach’s Steph-anie Pellitteri will make history this year after signing a national letter of intent to play beach volleyball at Florida State University, the inaugural sport beginning in 2012.

Pellitteri will be joined by former South Lake High School teammates Jeassica McGregor (Groveland) and Aurora Newgard (Groveland) to make up FSU’s first-ever sand volleyball recruiting class. All three heralded recruits possess enormous accolades stemming from their amateur careers at the high school and club levels.

“I’m very excited about this first sand volleyball signing class,” said Florida State University Director of Volleyball and Indoor volleyball head coach Chris Poole. “Aurora, Jeassica and Stephanie are all three exceptional players, but, more importantly, they are exceptional young ladies. They are among the very best in the nation as beach players, and we are fortunate that they have made a commitment to Florida State University.

“They will be the pioneers for not only a new sport at FSU, but a new sport on the college level,” Poole added. “Our U.S.A. Women’s Beach team has won the last two Olympics, and the sport was among the most watched of each of those Olympic Games.”

Pellitteri was a standout performer at Pompano Beach High School, where she was the captain of her indoor volleyball squad. She began playing sand volleyball for Club Beach Dig in the summer of 2007 and continues to excel with the same team.

While playing for Club Beach Dig, Pellitteri has boasted some key victories over the years, including the 18-under Open Division East Coast Beach Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale last August.

Pellitteri also became a Junior 18-under Regional and National Dig the Beach champion. She has been invited to several camps at the sand volleyball Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, which are invitation only. Her two sisters, Kristina and Brittany, are also top junior players.

Well-accomplished beach volleyball player and coach Danalee Corso was recently named the head coach of the squad.