Mandeville tops host Fontainebleau

Mandeville put away the host Fontainebleau Bulldogs, 45-37, Friday night in the final game of the Bulldog Classic with senior Jordane Ganapamo scoring a game-high 22 points.

MHS moved to 8-7, while FHS slipped to 5-4.

Ganapamo almost single handedly carried the Skippers in the opening quarter, dropping in nine of Mandeville’s 12 points and clicking on three treys. Skippers’ senior point guard Josh Priola, who finished with nine points in the game, tallied the other first-quarter points on a trey of his own. The Skippers took a 12-8 first-quarter lead. Ganapamo swished his first two three-point attempts to give the Skippers an early 6-0 lead with 4:54 left.

Ganapamo said it was a big victory coming off Wednesday’s tournament loss (49-48) to John Ehret.

“We needed to win to get our confidence back. This is a really good win. After I took the first shot and it went in, I thought, ‘I’ll take another if I get open,’ and I did (referring to his first two 3-pointers),” Ganapamo said.

Mandeville outscored Fontainebleau 10-8 in the second period for a 22-16 halftime margin.

FHS’ Quin Cooper found his touch and delivered two 3-pointers in the third quarter, and Tyrus Parker chipped in with a field goal and played some good defense for the Bulldogs.

With Mandeville clinging to a 26-24 lead, Priola bottomed out a 3-pointer on a quality assist from Ganapamo. MHS’ Blake Kelley later drained a trey with only 58 seconds left in the third quarter to push the Skippers to a 32-24 lead. Ganapamo came up with a steal and was fouled. He made 1-of-2 freebies to give the Skippers a 33-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.

FHS senior Taylor Hanby got on track for the Bulldogs in the final quarter, putting in nine points to finish as the team’s high scorer with 13 points, followed by Cooper’s 10 and Jason Green’s eight.

“Mandeville’s zone defense was packing it in, and we weren’t hitting our outside shots. We got it going a little bit in the interior late in the game, but it was too little too late,” Hanby said. “They were daring us to shoot, and we never shot consistently from the outside.”

Trailing 36-26, Hanby scored a basket and later made a free throw to cut the Skippers’ lead to trim the lead to seven points. With FHS trailing 40-31, Hanby scored four straight points to trim the lead to 40-35 with 2:30 remaining. FHS, which had only committed four team fouls in the half, had to chase the Skippers to foul to put them in the one-and-one bonus in an effort to get the ball back. The strategy worked. Following a Mandeville miss on the front end of a one-and-one, FHS’ Green tallied a field goal to make it a 40-37 contest with 1:11 left. With Mandeville attempting to run out the clock, the Bulldogs were forced to foul again. They fouled Kelley, a senior, and he calmly went to the free throw line and dropped in both charity tosses with 56 seconds to go.

“I just wanted to knock down two for the team. I just had to keep my confidence up saying both were going to go down,” Kelley said.

MHS coach John Priola credited Kelley with hitting some big shots and playing tough defense late in the game.

“He (Kelley) suffered a severe ankle sprain earlier in the year and is now working his way into the rotation. He’s a good guy who never complains. I was glad to see him step up,” Priola said.

After Kelley’s two key free throws, Ganapamo added a free throw and a late basket for the eight-point 45-37 victory.

In Wednesday’s tournament action, Mandeville came up short edged by John Ehret, 49-48. Ganapamo led the way with 17 points. Brandon Weeden contributed 10 points followed by Chad Alfaro with eight and Zach Adema with seven. Robert Howard led Ehret with 16 points, followed by Jacoby Reed with 14.

In earlier tournament action, Fontainebleau defeated the Archbishop Rummel Raiders, 54-39, in Wednesday’s contest.

Cooper topped the Bulldogs with 14 points, including two 3-pointers. Green delivered 12 points followed by Matt Orlando with eight, Hanby seven and Spencer Ardis with six for the Bulldogs. Ehret’s Darius Henry led the Patriots with 15 points and Melvin Ursin had 10.

The second day of the Bulldog Classic (Thursday) was postponed due to the inclement weather.