- January 21, 2025
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FPC's Anthony Hampton's glasses are knocked askew as he puts up a shot. Hampton scored 23 points against Orange Park. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Jasiah Sanders puts his hands up to block Orange Park's inbounds pass. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Orange Park's Quayshon Blot gets his hand on the ball as R.J. Watson puts up a layup. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Anthony Hampton (3) dribbles from the corner. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's R.J. Watson covers the inbounds pass. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Roman Caliendo shoots a free throw. Photo by Brent Woronoff
FPC's Dominic Pagan looks for an open man. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Orange Park's Ontario Mallory (10) guards FPC's Nateshawn Royal. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas senior Jaylon Owens. Photo by Brent Woronoff
The Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast boys basketball teams are peaking heading into their second meeting this season. The Pirates (10-8) will visit the Bulldogs (12-8) on Thursday, Jan. 23, with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.
The Pirates will try to even the score after falling to their county rivals 56-48 on Dec. 13 at the Pirates’ gym.
Both teams have been playing their best basketball of the season in the recent weeks. Matanzas has won eight of its last 10 games, while FPC has won seven of its last nine. The Bulldogs are coming off a 69-67 win over Lake Gibson on Jan. 18 and two overtime games in a row, including a 54-49 win at DeLand on Jan. 14.
In between, they lost to Orange Park in overtime, 57-55, on Jan. 15 at home. Anthony Hampton, whose 3-point basket forced overtime against DeLand, hit his first four 3-point shots against Orange Park. The junior finished with 23 points, while 6-foot-6 forward Jasiah Sanders added 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
The Pirates soundly defeated Seabreeze 77-48 on Matanzas’ Senior Night, Jan. 17. The Pirates honored their only senior, Jaylon Owens.
Owens, a 6-5, 330-pound offensive lineman on the football team, is a first-year player on the basketball team.
“I’m blessed that he even got to join us, because he’s a football kid,” Matanzas boys basketball coach Eric Guerrero said. “He came out and said he would like to play. I said, ‘I'd love to have somebody like you,’ “He's just such a great teammate, and overall, he’s a great student athlete here.”
Coming into Senior Night, Owens scored a total of two points in six games. He tripled that with six points against Seabreeze.
“Going in, I knew the kids were excited to get him going early. I started him and let him play some decent minutes because going into the playoffs, I'm going to need someone with his talents to give us that extra edge over certain teams,” Guerrero said.
Alex Davis led Matanzas with 24 points against the Sandcrabs. Nate Perry scored 15 points, and La’Darien Baker added 10. Seabreeze (9-11) came into the game having won four in a row and trailed by just three points (12-9) after the first quarter, but the Pirates poured in 23 points in the second quarter to take a 35-16 halftime lead.
Jordan Anthony led Seabreeze with 12 points, while fellow sophomore Reece Casto had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
