Tigers blow out Merritt Island to improve to 5-0 this season

Holy Trinity's Theo Mansell dunks for two of his game-high 14 points as the Tigers defeated the visiting Merritt Island Mustangs 67-18 Monday night.

 CKOTALA

The Holy Trinity Tigers got exactly what they were looking for out of

Monday night’s boys basketball game against the visiting Merritt Island

Mustangs.

The defense played well, the Tigers got off to a fast start, and by the end

of the night, everyone on the bench had not only played, but scored.

It all added up to a 67-18 victory for Holy Trinity, which is ranked No.

20 in the state by MaxPreps. The Tigers improved to 5-0 on the season.

“We had goals set for ourselves, what we knew we should be able to do,

and we tried to focus defensively on what we’re trying to get better at,”

Holy Trinity coach Steve Henderson said. “We got a fast start. It was a

great opportunity to play a lot of guys.

“We got some guys some experience in positions they hadn’t played, so

we’re hoping it will help us throughout the year.”

Junior Theo Mansell led the Tigers with 14 points. Freshman Elijah

Reynolds had 13 points and senior Demetrius “Meech’ Robinson had 10.

Holy Trinity led 20-3 after the first quarter and took a 38-9 lead into the

locker room at the half. The Tigers then shut out Merritt Island (0-5) in

the third quarter, upping their lead by another 17 points.

What did the Tigers get out of such a lopsided victory?

“Honestly, repetition – running the plays, doing the little things right and

staying locked in, not giving up and not letting up,” Robinson said.

“This game, we really came out focused from the beginning. We were

all focused and ready to go from beginning to end.”

With big games coming up the next two weeks, the Tigers will need to

be at their best.

Holy Trinity hosts Rockledge (3-0) on Wednesday and travels to Boone

(4-1) on Friday before heading into next week’s games at Melbourne (3-

0) on Dec. 15 and at home against Oviedo (4-1) on Dec. 18.

“It’s hard to stay disciplined, to not reach and do the things we don’t

want our kids to do and create bad habits,” Henderson said. “I think we

did a good job of that tonight. That was kind of my main focus coming

in – focus on us and what we need to do, and not so much what the

opponent’s doing.

“I think they did a good job. They did what we asked them to do. We’ve

got a good group of kids that are continuing to get better each day.

We’re excited.”