Boston Too Much For Vander Pol, Sentinels
December 8, 2008
By Aaron Seybert
SWFLHoops.com
North Fort Myers @ Evangelical Christian School
FORT MYERS, FL---North Fort Myers' junior Tre Boston is what you might call, a "football kid". Evident by his team leading 43 receptions for 736 yards to go along with 5 touchdowns this past fall on the gridiron. Well, it's safe to say that Evangelical Christian School's players, coaches, and fans were wishing this "football kid" was not on the hardwood for their match-up with the Red Knights on Monday evening. However, he was and he led his squad to their first win of the season, 71-61, at the Sentinels gymnasium. Boston tallied a season high 27 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists.
Most impressive was his 14 point first quarter outburst, all coming in the last 3 minutes and 36 seconds, which keyed a North Fort Myers 15-4 run to end the period and putting his team up 22-8. Most noticeable was how Boston caused the ECS guards to commit multiple turnovers that he was able to convert to easy buckets in the open court.
We asked North head coach Trevor Montgomery about Boston's one man full court press through the better part of the game and he has this to say. "I knew our point guards were quick, but I figured Tre's more athletic, he's longer, quicker, so he could put more pressure on these guys and get some easy steals cause he's pretty good at guarding the ball and reading the passing lanes. I told him to guard whoever brought the ball up, try to jump on em' quick with some athleticism"
In the second, Evangelical Christian's senior forward Joel Vander Pol, who is signed to play at Liberty University next year, did his best to keep the game from getting out of hand and out of reach. Despite being constantly double teamed and harassed by Red Knight defenders, Vander Pol managed to put up 15 first half points to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 blocks.
However, when Boston slowed down, only scoring two points in the second frame, fellow junior guard Mike Malaise picked up the slack. Malaise followed Tre's impressive quarter with one of his own, scoring 12 of his team's 17 points in the frame and putting North up 39-26 at the half.
At the half we caught up with Sentinel head man Nate Travis and he had this to say about Vander Pol's first half play, "Joel's had a decent half by the numbers I think, but I don't even think he's playing all that well. I think he was playing soft and wasn't coming to the ball well enough."
In the third quarter, ECS came out and cut the lead immediately to 43-34 behind an 8-4 run keyed by Lane Joslin. However, Trey Boston answered with a driving finger roll over Vander Pol and then a three pointer as the Knights went on a 7-2 run of their own to go back ahead 50-36 with over 3 minutes left. Joslin finished with 11 third quarter points, allowing the Sentinels to cut into the lead and head into the fourth only down 47-54.
North Fort Myers put together a 7-2 run in the first minutes and 17 seconds of the fourth to go ahead 61-49. However, the Sentinels held tough and managed to cut the lead to 61-56 on a three pointer by the 6'11" Vander Pol with 3 minutes left in the game. However, ECS could not capitalize on numerous missed free throws by North in the last couple minutes.
In the end, the key to the game was the 22-8 first quarter hole that Boston put the Sentinels in as they outscored North in the second and third quarters and was only outscored in the final frame 17-14.
For the Sentinels, Vander Pol finished with game highs of 30 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 blocks for his third triple-double through only six games this season. He was helped by Lane Joslin who had 17 of his own. However, after those two the next high scorer had only three points. If ECS wants to have a good shot of making a run at a 2A-12 district title they will need to find more guys who can step up against tough competition and when the pressure is on. They return to action Tuesday night at home versus district opponent Moore Haven at 7:30 pm.
For North Fort Myers, Malaise finished with 19 points and 4 rebounds. Dan Wirka chipped in with 12 points and 4 rebs of his own as well. Also, this win is bigger than it may even seem tot he naked eye. Not only is the all important first win of the season, but it comes on the eve of their match-up Tuesday night at home versus district foe Ida Baker who is looking to get back on track after losing to Fort Myers on Friday. If they can get performances out of Boston and Malaise against Baker like they did tonight, they could be more competitive than people are expecting. Couple that with the possible return of second leading scorer and their tallest player, Erwin Guerrero, who was did not play Monday due to violation of team rules. Remember this is a team that only lost to Gulf Coast 52-57 to open the season, and Gulf Coast nearly upset Baker last week losing 60-62 with a shot to tie it at the end that was blocked.
"This was good to win going into tomorrow night and overall. I think we just need to get that feeling of winning," added Coach Montgomery afterwards. "Now hopefully we can just build on that hunger and thirst for winning."
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