First Coast Varsity Weekly: Jackson stakes claim atop Northside basketball scene

The ball broke loose, and Ronald Durham knew what he had to do next.

"I just knew I had to get that rebound," the Jackson junior forward said.

The message to Jacksonville: Jackson isn't ready to give up its title as kings of basketball on the Northside.

The Tigers, four-time defending regional champions, turned the tables on Ribault to win Thursday night's Northwest Christmas Tournament, holding off a determined Trojans team 56-52.

Durham's rebound off a potential game-tying shot with 1.3 seconds to go sealed Jackson's win, two weeks after Ribault had topped the Tigers 39-38.

The names have changed, but the hallmarks of Jackson hoops under head coach James Collins — tenacious defense and some of the best all-around depth in the 904 area code — remain as strong as ever.

Tight defense along the perimeter, keyed by senior Aaron Brown and juniors Joseph Bargeron and Albert Laguerre, aimed to limit the damage from Ribault's explosive junior guard Caleb Williams, who nonetheless finished with 11 points and seven assists.

Still, Ribault fought back from a seven-point hole with less than two minutes to play on clutch shooting from Kevin Stokes and Kalvin Gilbert Jr., slicing the Jackson lead to one before Durham clinched victory.

For the Tigers (7-7), who had lost six in a row in December, the win helped to boost confidence entering 2023. Jackson could meet Ribault as many as three more times in the Gateway Conference, Florida High School Athletic Association district tournament and the Class 4A regionals.

"It meant a lot," Durham said. "They beat us last time, and this time we knew we were going to do what we had to do."

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Spartans' Scott dominates in Bradenton

A tip for tournament organizers: Be prepared to print out some revised pages for the record books when Taliah Scott comes to town.

The St. Johns Country Day senior brought home a championship trophy and left behind some shredded records as Spartans girls basketball powered to the Chick-fil-A Basketball Classic in Bradenton.

She scored 33 points in the first round as St. Johns won 73-39 against Lakeland George Jenkins, broke the event record with 42 in a 72-38 win against Bradenton Bayshore and then smashed her tournament mark again with 53 points in the championship against Orlando First Academy.

Committed to Arkansas, she set Chick-fil-A records for most 3-pointers in a game (nine), most threes in the tournament (18) and most points overall in the three-game tournament (128) to earn MVP honors. Spartans guard Mary Kate Kent also earned a berth on the all-tournament team.

The past week has propelled Scott up to 2,237 points for her high school career, moving ahead of several big names on Northeast Florida's career scoring list: Christen Edwards (2,144, Nease, 1991-94), Steffi Sorensen (2,147, Bartram Trail, 2002-06), Sheila Tomlinson (2,224, Keystone Heights, 1983-87) and Jasmyne Roberts (2,224, Yulee/Bishop Kenny, 2017-21).

She's now up to three 50-point games with the Spartans, after previously hitting the mark against Atlantic Coast on Nov. 18, 2021 and against Ridgeview on Jan. 20.

Although not all teams report scoring statistics in the MaxPreps database, her current points-per-game tally of 37.1 would rank first in the national MaxPreps list.

Double triumphs for Oakleaf

Not a bad week on the basketball court for Oakleaf.

The Oakleaf boys came home with the top prize at the Gus Gibbs Memorial Tournament in DeLand, while the Oakleaf girls dominated the field to win the Jarvis Williams Christmas Tournament.

For the Knights' girls team, the only serious obstacle came in the semifinals. Kaylah Turner nailed a game-tying layup at the buzzer to force overtime, part of her 24 points on the night, and Fantasia James hit 31 in all to lead the Knights past Jackson 69-62 in a battle of Northeast Florida power programs.

Both James and Turner then scored 13 points in the final, a 56-16 rout of Menendez that stretched the winning streak to 13 games for Oakleaf (14-1).

Point guard Aaron Rivers, an all-tournament selection, led Oakleaf's boys team in a superb defensive showing. The Knights beat McKeel 64-26, DeLand 69-27 and Hialeah American 62-36.

Bruce breaks through for Senators

Two years ago, Fletcher's scoring ace was Zyhir Sims. Last year, it was Lajae Jones.

Now, it looks like senior guard Juan Bruce is growing into the role.

Bruce racked up a career-high 39 points Friday to lead the Senators to the boys championship at the Jarvis Williams Christmas Tournament in Palatka, a 75-52 win over the host Panthers.

Before this month, Bruce had only once reached 20 points, in a December 2021 game against Gainesville Buchholz. His performance was the highest-scoring game for a Senators player since Sims tallied 42 against Parker on Jan. 22, 2021.

Fletcher, which has rebounded from an 0-4 start, beat Dr. Phillips and Tocoi Creek on the way to the championship.

Yulee's Schreiber earns 600th win

Matt Schreiber is Florida's newest member of the 600-win club.

The veteran coach, who initially retired in February 2021 after nearly four decades of coaching at Hilliard and Fernandina Beach, attained the 600-win mark Friday when Yulee defeated independent program Bridge to Independence 65-37 in tournament play at New Smyrna Beach.

Schreiber, who had won 592 games between 1982 and 2021, returned to basketball shortly before the season when he took the helm of the Hornets. Yulee (8-5) has won its last seven, also beating Orlando First Academy and Savannah Jenkins at last week's tournament. Senior Houston Harper scored a career-high 20 in the 57-56 comeback win over First Academy.

Schreiber would need more than 100 more victories to approach Northeast Florida's all-time boys hoops leader, Ribault legend Bernard Wilkes, winner of 758 games between 1976 and 2006. Next in line among active coaches is Providence's Jim Martin, who entered the week at 579.

Among girls coaches, Nease's Sherri Anthony has also cleared the 600-win threshold, now up to 675 and counting to reach second on the area list behind the 721 wins of Ribault's Al Austin from 1978 to 2004.

Crusaders girls take Palm Beach title

The Bishop Kenny girls hoops machine is still going strong, this time down the state.

Now 14-1, Bishop Kenny overpowered Port St. Lucie Centennial 51-26 and Legion Collegiate (S.C.) 57-46 before topping Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons 51-40 in Friday's championship game at the Holiday Basketball Classic of The Palm Beaches.

Junior forward Sydney Roundtree turned in a career-best scoring performance in the final with 20 points to earn MVP honors, with junior Clare Coyle also on the all-tournament squad.

Around the area

Middleburg defensive back Kristian Russell committed to Highland Community College football. … Orange Park wide receiver Nolan Chambers committed to Butler Community College football. … Columbia outfielder Matthew Dumas committed to Lake Sumter State College baseball. … Former Fleming Island linebacker Ryan Smenda, now at Wake Forest, announced his plans to enter the 2023 NFL Draft. … The annual Patrick Heinold 3v3 Basketball/4v4 Volleyball Tournament is scheduled for May 20. … The Gateway Conference soccer tournaments begin Thursday, and the Gateway girls basketball bracket opens Monday. … FHSAA wrestling district duals tournaments begin this week for District 1-3A (Wednesday at Creekside), District 2-2A (Thursday at Tallahassee Chiles), District 3-2A (Wednesday at Middleburg), District 4-2A (Wednesday at New Smyrna Beach), District 2-1A (Thursday at Suwannee) and District 3-1A (Wednesday at Fernandina Beach).

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast Varsity Weekly: Jackson Tigers win in Jacksonville boys basketball