Mainland wins 4th consecutive Five Star boys basketball title

DAYTONA BEACH — Make it a four-peat for the Mainland Buccaneers.

Mainland beat Atlantic 76-71 on Friday, Jan. 30, to win its fourth consecutive Five Star Conference boys basketball championship. And the Bucs did it in front of their home crowd.

“That was a big win for us,” Mainland coach Joe Giddens said. “Atlantic went to the Elite Eight last year, and they got the whole team coming back. So it was good for us to come out here and get a victory.”

The Bucs had Beegie Gordon, Canyon Powers, Kade Manley, Jaheem Curry and Kadin Flores score in double figures as part of a nine-man rotation.

Gordon led all Mainland players with 15 points, followed by Curry (14), Powers (12), Flores (12) and Manley (10).

“That’s the beauty of it,” Giddens said. “We can probably go 11 deep, and we’ve been playing like 11 guys all year. So it’s not like it’s something new. We’re used to it, so when we get to the playoffs, we’re gonna continue to play that many guys. So it only helps us, and we can get some guys rest when they need it.”

Mainland led for the majority of the game, but it was Atlantic that possessed a 21-18 advantage after the first quarter. The Sharks limited the Bucs’ stars before they were able to get hot down the stretch.

Atlantic held on to its lead until the second quarter, when Mainland, the FHSAA’s 10th-ranked team, took a 36-32 cushion into the break. The Sharks never allowed the Bucs to run away with a win, but they also never saw the lead again.

“I thought we followed our game plan really, really well,” Atlantic coach Travis Norfolk said. “I thought we did a really good job keeping Beegie and Kade from getting loose at the 3-point line very often. I mean, those two guys are super talented, they’re really good basketball players … You don’t get in the top 10 in the state by not being a good basketball team.”

Mainland’s lead blossomed to 55-49 at the end of the third quarter and creeped into double-digit territory in the fourth quarter. But Atlantic stuck around until the final whistle.

The win was the Bucs’ sixth in a row and improved them to 21-2 as both teams closed their regular seasons. The Sharks finished 17-8.

Both look to end the campaign with a state trophy, Mainland in 6A and Atlantic in 4A.

“Our goal, obviously, is to go to states and win states,” Manley said. “I feel like we could beat anybody. We just got to tighten some things up and play better defense.”

“Last year, we lost Five Star, and we ended up being the last team from Volusia County playing,” Norfolk said. “So our goals are way bigger than Five Star. I mean, it would’ve been nice to win it, but we’re trying to be district champions. In all honesty, we’re trying to hang a banner, and I think this group is good enough to do it.”

After both teams shook hands, a scuffle ensued. It was quickly broken up by security and other staff members before both teams retired to their respective locker rooms.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: FHSAA boys basketball: Mainland beats Atlantic for Five Star 4-peat