- April 19, 2024
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The Mainland boys basketball team played its first four season games without three of its starters, who were leading the school's football squad deep into the playoffs.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
The Mainland boys basketball team had to wait to reach full strength — at least until the end of the school's football season.
Three football players, Cameron Hadley, Jamal Hughes and Marcus Brunson, are also starters on the basketball team.
Head coach Landis McCoy said the three will trade in their cleats for sneakers to play their first games of the season Dec. 4, following the football team’s 41-14 playoff loss Nov. 30, at Naples High School.
While the basketball team was waiting, it got off to a 2-2 start (through Nov. 30), including an overtime loss Nov. 28, at New Smyrna Beach, and a 69-34 win Dec. 1, over rival Seabreeze.
McCoy said Hadley, a quarterback; Hughes, a receiver; and Brunson, a linebacker and fullback, will all be big boosts for his team, which has relied on bench players contributing more than he expected.
“I was expecting a lot of them to be role players,” McCoy said. “But they exceeded that expectation. They’re fighting for starting positions.”
Daquan Johnson, in is his first year playing with the team, and Craig Wilmore, are among the Buccaneers players off the bench who have stepped up for McCoy early in the season.
Wilmore scored 11 points, eight in the first half, in a start against Seabreeze, and Johnson scored four points.
