Tiger Sharks down Seahawks, now 16-4
With only one loss in its last 10 games, the Port St. Joe Tiger Sharks defeated Franklin County for the second time this season, winning 62-47 on their home court Friday evening.
The win secures a second-seed in the upcoming district tournament, which Port St. Joe will host the first week of February.
With both teams neck-and-neck the first quarter, and St. Joe leading comfortably at the half, the Seahawks went on a tear to open the third quarter, and shaved the margin to five points.
But after that the Tiger Sharks regained control of the game, and secured a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
“We’ll take the win,” said Port St. Joe Coach Sandy Quinn. “But I think we could have done a little bit better. We went in up at the first half and all of a sudden they cut it down to five and we had to pick it back up in the third and fourth quarter.
“We’ll take it but there’s a little work that still needs to be done,” he said.
The Tiger Sharks were led by 27 points and eight rebounds from sophomore Zay Jenkins, with a strong performance by sophomore Darion Cherry, who at one point hit back-to-back three pointers on his way to 10 points. “He can play,” said Quinn.
Freshman Mase Larry scored eight points, with six points and eight rebounds from freshman Justus Barber. Senior Elijah Harris scored five, sophomore Jayden Reese four and senior JD Becton two.
The team hit 52 percent from the floor and 62 percent from the free throw line.
Ray Bailey’s Seahawks were led by 15 points and eight rebounds from sophomore Sadiq Jones, and 12 points and nine rebounds from sophomore Jeremiah Allen.
Freshman Braelin Morris had 10 points, junior Jamichael Miller nine, and junior Neo Robinson one.
The team shot 33 percent from the field, and 65 percent from the charity stripe.
The Seahawks have won three of their last seven games, as their record has dropped to 13-8, third in the district.
On Jan. 11 the team fell 69-61 at Maclay, but then downed Chipley 46-44 in an away game two nights later.
The team lost 68-66 in triple overtime at Wakulla Jan. 16 and then bounced back to beat North Bay Haven 70-60 the following night at home. The next night the team lost 55-44 at home to Community Leadership Academy.
In an away game Saturday night, the Seahawks downed Liberty County 59-34.
Port St. Joe’s only loss in its last five games was at Blountstown 64-47 on Jan. 16.
On Jan. 14 they downed Mosley at home 74-50. And then in an away game Jan. 17 edged Rutherford 65-63.
They traveled to Wewa Jan. 21 and won 65-25.
Their record now stands at 16-4.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.