Boys basketball | Southeast High's Ronald Taylor scores 33, but Seminoles fall to Cape Coral Mariner

BRADENTON -- With Southeast playing shorthanded, Ronald Taylor knew he was going to have to put the Seminoles on his shoulders if they were going to keep their season alive.

The senior swingman did all anyone could reasonably expect in scoring a game-high 33 points. But he couldn't get much help, and the host Noles saw their season end with a 64-55 loss to Cape Coral Mariner Tuesday night into a Class 5A-Region 3 semifinal.

"He is going to do everything for us, and usually when his points are that high we either won running away, or it was one of these kind of games," Southeast head coach Floyd Watkins said.

Southeast (21-8) was missing 6-foot-4 Corey Davis, the Noles' second-leading scorer and leading rebounder for undisclosed reasons. The Noles had no one to make up for his inside presence and a tall Mariner team (25-3) took advantage of his absence.

The Seminoles tried to counter with defensive pressure but fell short offensively with only point guard Tre Alexandrea joining Taylor in double figures with 11 points.

"It was a tremendous effort

by Ronald. He was locked in and focused," Watkins said. "I think everybody was. We have no regrets. We did everything we could do. We went out swinging. This team has a lot to be proud of. It brought the community back a little bit."

Mariner kept pulling away, but Southeast using a pressure defense that double-teamed the ball all over the court at times, kept fighting back until it just ran out of gas.

Southeast trailed 51-38 less than a minute into the fourth quarter and went into its press. The Noles forced five turnovers in less than a minute and a half and outscored Mariner 12-2 to cut its deficit to 51-48 with 5:23 left in the game.

Ronald Taylor sparked the run with eight points, including four that came off turnovers, and Cedric Brooks knocked down a trey.

Southeast trailed 53-50 on a layup by Alexandrea with 4:50 left when Mariner managed to regroup, and the Noles started to look a little tired.

This time, Mariner used an 8-2 to run to increase its lead to 61-52 with 52 seconds remaining as the Noles struggled offensively, missing five straight shots until Taylor drove in for a layup.

"I was tired at the end. I had some problems with my stomach and didn't have enough fluids, so toward the end of the game I started running out of steam," Taylor said. "They played a lot inside, so to get steals you have to go to midcourt, and that takes a lot of energy. We got three or four steals in a row, but then we just tired."

Southeast fought back from an eight-point deficit in the second quarter behind Taylor. The Noles struggled to get good shots most of the game and connected on 20 of 55 field goal attempts while Mariner shot 26-51 and outrebounded the Seminoles 27-15.

"We put the district title on the wall. Everybody likes a storybook ending, and everybody wants to be Cinderella, but we just couldn't," Watkins said. "When I got here, we were ending the season losing by 30 points and now we are playing in regional games deep into February and that is something we hope to continue."

Taylor and Alexandrea were four-year starters, whose goal was to win a district title, which they finally did in their last year. They just wish they could've taken it a little farther.

"It's fun if this is the way we go out with stands filled and everyone hyped up," Taylor said. "They are a big team, and without our size in the middle, we had to run, and it was getting tough to score points. Summing up my four years, it was fun. It was great to be part of a program like Southeast that has made so much history.

Alan Dell, Herald sports columnist/writer, can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter @ADellSports.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Boys basketball | Southeast High's Ronald Taylor scores 33, but Seminoles fall to Cape Coral Mariner ."