Marianna Summer League season ends

By Dustin Kent

Published: June 28, 2008

The Marianna Summer League Basketball season came to an end Thursday night at Marianna High School, with Port St. Joe taking wins over Marianna and Sneads.

The Sharks edged Marianna 52-51 in the first game of the night, then took a 70-46 victory over the Pirates.

The Bulldogs bounced back from their earlier defeat to take a 49-37 win over Malone, which turned right around and topped Sneads 65-50 in the final game of the night.

Marianna coach Travis Blanton said he thought it was a very satisfying Summer League season for all involved.
“I feel like all the teams really got a lot out of it, as far as getting a chance to see what their personnel would be like for the upcoming year,” the coach said.

“Every team I watched I saw improvement in the teams and the players. It was good for the kids and the community to give them something to do during the summer, give the coaches a chance to evaluate the players and themselves and have a good time in the offseason.”

It’s a particularly important summer for Blanton’s Bulldogs, who replace a bevy of seniors from last season’s Final Four team.

“I think this young group is going to have to step up at the varsity level,” the coach said. “They’re very inexperienced, but the young kids had a really good season on (junior varsity) and did a good job adjusting this summer, but it’s going to be even more competitive in the fall.

“I think we’re going to take our lumps early, but I really feel we’ll be competitive. I’m excited about coaching them. They all care about winning first and there’s not a tiny bit of selfishness in any of them. They’re going to be a lot of fun to coach.”

Blanton said that handling an almost completely new team will be a challenge for him as a coach.

“I’ve got to adjust and adapt. I can’t do necessarily the same things I did last year, so I have change with the new personnel,” the coach said. “This group offers a lot. C.J. (Blount) will have to step up big this year, so do guys like Quan Boykin, RJ Bowers, Nehemiah Gilbert and Cruz Pinkins, who is going to be a big asset for us in the post.”

Blanton said he was also impressed by what he saw from the other Jackson County teams this summer.

“I think the county is going to be a lot more competitive this year,” he said. “Graceville was the most improved team I saw. I think Malone will surprise some people and Cottondale is much-improve as well. Their kids played really well at times this summer and I think they’re capable of doing it every night. Sneads is going to be surprising. They struggled a little, but once (Sneads coach Kelvin Johnson) gets all of them out there, they’ll be good.

“I think the county games are going to be a lot more exciting to go see. I think it will be real fun to see every game this year for each school, so I would encourage all the fans to go see all the teams this year because every game, anything can happen.”