Welcome to the Adams Family

BROOKSVILLE - The ball kept finding Mike Adams, and his long-range bombs kept finding the bottom of the net.

By the end of the night the 6-foot-2 junior with the left-handed stroke had tallied 17 points off the Nature Coast Technical bench, as the host Sharks routed second-year Wiregrass Ranch Friday night, 61-35.

Just one question: who is this guy?

"I don't know who Mike Adams is but somebody needs to give him the game ball," Wiregrass Head Coach Jeremy Calzone said. "We tried to shade (Joe) Silvestri and (P.J.) Orgass, but he stepped up.

"If you told me before the game that Silvestri and Orgass would have six points at the half, I'd be excited. They had guys step up and we didn't."

Calzone's scouting report made sense. Silvestri came into the game averaging by far a team-best 17.5 points over the first eight games of the regular season. Orgass carried an 8.3 scoring average into this one.

Meanwhile, Adams came in at 5.4 points per game and had only reached double figures once in his brief varsity career - 12 points in the season-opener against Lake Weir.

He also had knocked down just five three-pointers on this young campaign, but drilled four, three in the second quarter to help Nature Coast (5-4 overall, 4-3 4A-8) build a 37-14 halftime advantage.

"We do 30 minutes of shooting everyday in practice, then we go everyday in the morning and shoot. I'm up to 100 shots a day," Adams said. "I hadn't been shooting too great this year but it finally clicked."

Adams spoke highly of Silvestri, who finished up with only seven points, but added seven rebounds, six assists, a blocked shot and a steal while drawing heavy defensive attention.

"That was huge," Adams said. "Joe has been our leading scorer all year but he doesn't try to score. He does the right things. He passes the ball when someone is open. He's a very unselfish player. I love having him on my team."

"I think they were concentrating on Joe," Nature Coast Head Coach David Pisarcik said. "And it opened up some opportunities for guys like Adams, Mike Fields, 'Shady (Reshad Terry) and P.J. to make shots and they did tonight.

"When they concentrate on Joe so much, Joey is an unselfish player. He can get people good looks within the offense and we played together tonight."

Quick start

Nature Coast began the game on a 12-0 run, including a pair of treys from Fields (13 points for the game).

According to Calzone, Wiregrass (3-4 overall, 3-4 4A-8) had to sit its starting point guard because of a disciplinary issue and could never recover from his absence.

Marcus Banks and Alan Thomas each scored nine points to pace the Bulls. Thomas added four steals.

The Sharks got the lead past 30 in the fourth quarter, though never enforced a running clock by securing a 35-point edge.

Preston Williams added eight points and five rebounds, and point guard Bryant Pent dished out five assists.

The game got so out of hand that the home crowd began calling for seldom-used reserve Howard Williams to make an appearance, as chants of "We want Howie!" broke out.

When Williams did enter the game midway through the fourth quarter, he received a large ovation. It was that kind of night for the Sharks, winners of three straight and four out of five.

"I've been waiting for a game like this," said Pisarcik, in his first year as headman. "We've been working hard at practice where everything was clicking. The offense is hitting shots and everyone is working together.

"This is what we've been striving for and it happened tonight. It just happened nine games in. We had a full team. This is the first game we've our full team. And we looked good tonight."