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DeSoto Dodges Upset-Minded Avon Park

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park’s Jerry Sullivan (11) drives to the hoop Friday night during the Devils’ loss to DeSoto.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: December 9, 2007

AVON PARK — The "never give up and never give in" credo was working for the Avon Park boys basketball team on Friday against Class 4A-District 10 rival DeSoto, but the shots still have to fall to turn that philosophy into a win.

Those shots — which were 13 missed free throws by AP — were the difference in the Red Devils 50-43 loss to the Bulldogs.

AP head coach Luther Clemons repeated the trend over and over after the game.

"Free throws, free throws, free throws," the disgruntled coach said with a smile. "We fought so hard to get back into the game. To be that close and watch it come down to missed free throws is hard."

Down by 13 points to start the second half, Avon Park's half-court trap disrupted DeSoto's guards enough for the Red Devils to get some easy baskets and keep the game close — down just nine points entering the final stanza.

That pressure defense stepped it up another notch, when Red Devil guard Rickey Taylor harassed DeSoto's Shay Shine every instance he touched the ball, forcing key turnovers during a 7-2 run to cut it to a 42-38 deficit with four minutes left to play.

"I just wanted to stay in front of [Shay] and keep the ball out of his hands when I could," Taylor said. "He is so dangerous with the ball, but I kept in his face, and it messed up his rhythm. And we're able to fight our way back."

Shine, who is one of the highest scoring players in the district, was held to 16 points and just four in the second half. But it was Shine who hit the back-breaker for the Bulldogs — a 3-pointer with three minutes left to extend the lead back to seven. DeSoto then hit its free throws down the stretch for the win.

Clemons was happy with the way his guards were able to pressure Shine and limit him as a threat for most of the second half.

"Anytime you can hold [Shay] under 20 points, that's excellent," Clemons said. "We just have to get more consistent and, of course, hit our free throws."

Avon Park's gameplan early in the game was simple — feed it inside.

Red Devil center Cleveland Nobles scored nine of his team-high 15 points in the first half and took a beating in the post by the Bulldog big men.

"The plan was to get me going early and then kick it outside when they started double-teaming me," Nobles said. "But they really shut down our outside shooters and I took a pounding down low.

"I was expecting a physical game. Coach [Clemons] gets rough in practice with me to get me ready to face bigger and stronger players. I was ready for what they threw at me tonight."

AP point guard Jerry Sullivan, who scored 14 points and seven assists, fed Nobles with pass after pass to help establish an inside presence, forcing DeSoto's guards to come away from the 3-point line to help on defense. Sullivan, along with Taylor, got the Red Devils in a position for the upset against the undefeated Bulldogs.

"We just don't know how good we are as a team," Sullivan said. "I think tonight we are finally finding out that we're pretty good. A game like this shows us that we can play solid basketball.

"What hurt us down the stretch was we settled for jumpers instead of driving to the basket. We just have to be more patient on offense. We're getting there."

Avon Park faced the Okeechobee Brahmans on Saturday night. For a full account, see Monday's Highlands Today.

The Red Devils' next home game is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against district foe Braden River.

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