ORLANDO — The Vero Beach Fighting Indians Boys’ Varsity basketball team traveled to Orlando Tuesday night to take on Colonial high school in the Region 2-8A semifinal game. Vero Beach (20-5) got off to a slow start Tuesday night scoring just six points in the first quarter.
The Fighting Indians trailed Colonial (21-6) 15-6 at the end of the first quarter and had some difficulty adjusting to the Grenadiers’ defense. Several of Colonial’s points were a direct result of Vero Beach turnovers.
Vero Beach forward Paul St. Mary said the sluggish start could be attributed to the two-hour bus ride.
“We were crammed up in the back of those buses on the way up here,” St. Mary said. “We thought they were gonna be fast and aggressive and that’s exactly how they were.”
The Fighting Indians didn’t fare much better in the second quarter turning the ball over four times and going into the locker room trailing Colonial 27-21.
Vero Beach guard Jamario Lambert said he never lost confidence in himself or the team thanks to Coach Chuck Loewendick’s halftime speech.
“Coach told us to come out and keep our composure in the second half,” Lambert said. “He told us to get the lead, get this win and let’s go home.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
Vero Beach came out of the locker room and forced the Grenadiers into calling a time out after a 12 to 2 run. Colonial battled back to within four points with 1:41 to play in the third but Vero’s Jeremy Bell hit two free throws to give the Fighting Indians a 37-31 lead.
Just 45 seconds into the fourth quarter Vero center Cedric Mayes pinned a Colonial player’s shot off the backboard that sent the Vero Beach fans into a frenzy.
Colonial could not gain any ground on the Fighting Indians. Vero matched the Grenadiers shot for shot down the stretch for the 57-48 win.
Coach Loewendick said Vero played well as a team.
“I felt our guys played extremely hard on defense and had each other’s backs even when we were down,” Loewendick stated, “I just couldn’t be happier with how our guys finished this game off. Our guys really care about each other and it’s a fun group to coach.”
Vero Beach returns home Saturday to play Sarasota Riverview in the Regional final.
St. Mary said he cannot wait to play in front of the home fans.
“We had a good crowd here tonight that helped us win,” St. Mary said. “I know that our gym will be packed with fans and our place will be crazy.”
