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'Naughts Drill Devils

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Avon Park’s Ricky Taylor glides toward the basket as Lakeland’s James Campbell (44) defends during Thursday night’s first round of the Taveniere Holiday Tournament at Sebring High School.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: December 29, 2007

SEBRING — It may be the season to give, but the Avon Park boys basketball team is taking that to the extreme.

The Red Devils, who have had trouble hanging on to the ball, committed 30 turnovers in losing to Lakeland 57-38 in Thursday's first round of the Taveniere Holiday Tournament.

"It's the same story every game, " said first-year Avon Park coach Luther Clemons. "We make too many turnovers and fall behind and spend the rest of the game trying to catch up.

"Our defense was solid, but we didn't shoot well and we weren't patient enough on offense."

Both teams came out sluggish to start the contest and the Dreadnaughts, led by James Campbell's four points, took an 11-6 lead heading into the second period.

Lakeland, which improved to 9-4, expanded its lead with Quayshawn Nelly scoring four of his game-high 10 points.

Demetrius Baldwin added five points, including a 3-pointer, as the Dreadnaughts took a 26-15 lead into the half.

"This was our first game back from the Christmas break and we were a step slow to the ball all night," said Clemons. "We had plenty of open shots, we just couldn't knock them down.

"We just never did get into any kind of offensive flow against a very athletic team."

Any thoughts of a Red Devil comeback were quickly extinguished as Tory Smith scored six points in the paint and Maurice Roberts added a pair of 3-pointers as Lakeland extended its lead to 43-24 heading into the final eight minutes.

To make matters worse, Avon Park point guard Jerry Sullivan twisted an ankle and wasn't able to return to the game.

"I'm going to rest Jerry for the rest of the tournament and probably for next week's game against Frostproof," Clemons said. "These games aren't important and it's important to have Jerry healthy for the district games when we come back from Christmas break.

The Red Devils, who dropped to 3-9 on the season, were led by Cleveland Nobles and Xavier Caldwell, who scored six points each.

The Red Devils played Mulberry in Friday's second round of the three-day tournament.

Results were not available at press time.

"I don't know much about Mulberry," Clemons said. "But I expect us to play better than we did tonight."

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