ORANGE PARK - Christmas has been good for St. Johns Country Day School's boys basketball team with coach Ian Gibson employing a few slogans and philosophies to motivate his boys.

"I know that with a marquis player like we have in Camden Cooper, teams will be looking to double and triple him up," said Gibson, now sitting with a 10 win three loss regular season record with a three-game win streak over the Christmas break. "We like to say 'Share the Sugar' which means everyone contributes a little each game; gets to touch the ball and is required to play tough defense."

Cooper, just an eighth grader, but scoring at nearly a 20 points per game average, opened up the Spartans' Saturday afternoon game with Countryside Christian with three straight three-pointers; the first one in just six seconds, putting St.Johns up quickly 9-0; 11-0 with a jumper off a rebound and layup from junior Grayson Moody.

Beyond Cooper's exploits, Gibson, in his third season, has seen a rise in the interest of Spartan basketball after a few lean years.

"I saw the banners on the wall for 1,000 point scorers here at this school and we want to get one of our own in my tenure," said Gibson. "The girl's soccer team is a prime example of the advantage of getting players out here early and developing them. Our other top scorer is another eighth grader, Elliot Graham, who is hitting about 10 points per game."

Gibson's second philosophical ploy for motivation is a pre-game poker chip contribution.

"What we do before the game is each player has a poker chip," said Gibson. "In our pregame meeting, they have to physically put the chip in a bucket we have and make the commit to be 'All in'. I tell them not to put the chip in if they are not intending to be all in. It's a mental commitment to doing what the team needs to win."

Graham entered the Countryside game near the three minutes to go in the first quarter and hit his first three with freshman Dylan Reach netting one on the next run down the court for the Spartans to put the score at 21-9 en route to a 29-10 first quarter lead.

Before Countryside, which became a 77-42 win for the Spartans, St. Johns scored wins of 83-49 over Faith Christian Academy and a nifty last-second shot 74-73 overtime win over Global Outreach Charter Academy (8-5). Global, up 27-23 at the half, offered up three six-foot-plus inside players; two at 6'-5", to thwart the Spartans attack. Global had two seniors that challenged the Spartan defense; both shooting at nearly 20 points per game before the St. Johns game.

St. Johns wound up closing the game 36-34 before Moody hit a three-pointer with 4:18 on the clock to put the Spartans up 37-36. The game would be tied at 60-60 at the end of regulation time. At 1:21 to go, with St. Johns up 68-67. freshman Logan Reese hit a fall-away jumper to 70-67 with:55 on the clock. Global missed two three attempts from the corner to the 28-second mark before a steal and third three hits to put that game at 70-70 with 7.5 seconds. Global got two free throws but made just one to go up 71-70. Cooper tied the game 71-71 with his free throw with 5.4 seconds to with Global getting the ball under the St. Johns basket. Global hit one of two more free throws to go up 72-71, then got two more; hitting one to lead 73-71 with 0.9 seconds to go. A long-in-bounds Joe Montana-like pass from Mamea to Cooper down the left sideline in front of the Spartan bench got one step and a left-hand toss that swished the nets for the final 74-73 win.

"We had to have a good, balanced team effort to slow them down and the team responded," said Gibson. "Camden had 20, Mamea had 14 and sophomore Logan Reese added 13. A total team effort and a highlight of our Share the Sugar mentality."

Gibson also acknowledged the success of the Spartans girls basketball team; 10-1 before the break and 11-3 after a road trip to Charleston SC for a three-day tournament.

"We support them and they are doing the same thing with Mary Kate Kent, Kendall Proffitt and Sophia Mejia; all in the 10-15 points per game range, doing the same sharing as our boys," said Gibson. "Wouldn't it be interesting if we both made a Final Four run?"