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Lake Gibson Scrapes By Sebring In OT Win

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By Brian Gjurgevich | Highlands Today

Published: November 17, 2007

SEBRING — Lake Gibson's Preston Frederick signed a letter of intent with Florida Southern on Thursday morning.

On Thursday night, he showed the Sebring basketball team why.
The 6-foot-8 senior poured in 47 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and had six blocks to lead the Class-5A Braves to an 82-80 overtime victory over the 4A Blue Streaks in a wild final game of the inaugural Preseason Classic.

"We're not used to playing against this hostile of a crowd," said Frederick, who hit 17 of his 26 field goal attempts on the night and scored eight of his team's 11 points in OT. "There was never a doubt in our mind we had it — we've been conditioning all summer for games like this."

Sam Robinson had 21 points, five rebounds and six steals to pace Sebring, which battled foul trouble all night and had three starters — Robinson, T.J. Williams and Joe Young — on the bench for much of the game's final stretch. Blue Streak coach Princeton Harris said the loss was encouraging to his bench players, who picked up the slack with the team's top weapons riding pine.

"I was at the back end of my bench and my guys still came out and performed well," Harris said. "That just tells me that if I need to, I can be confident going to my bench."

Chris Grubb had 20 points and four assists on the night, though the senior would've certainly liked his final shot — a 3-point attempt with Sebring down one and 16 ticks remaining — to fall. He said the loss was tough, but it was a good chance for the lesser-used Streaks to prove themselves early.

"We know we have a lot of depth on this team, and for us to come back and push the game into overtime proves that," Grubb said. "Now we know what we can accomplish."

Sebring hit six of eight field goals in the second quarter, including two 3-point bombs by Robinson, to carry a 41-32 lead into the half. But Lake Gibson's full-court pressure had taken its toll, forcing 16 Streak turnovers.

Harris said he focused his halftime instruction on reducing those miscues, something his team picked up on immediately.

"I told them, 'if we make that many turnovers, we'll be here running at 6 in the morning,' " Harris grinned. "And that was enough motivation for them."

Sebring turned the ball over just three times in the third quarter, but converted just one field in the final 3 1/2 minutes of the period to allow Lake Gibson to bring the game within five. That's when Frederick went to work, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter to put his team up one with 11.5 seconds remaining. With Williams and Young on the bench and the Streaks down seven, Robinson hit a 3-pointer and Grubb found his way to the basket for the hoop and a foul to bring Sebring within one with 24 seconds remaining in regulation.

After a steal and quick shot, Glen Patton — who scored five of his seven points in the fourth quarter — went to the line and hit one of two free throws to send the game into overtime. But with four players fouled out, the Streaks had no answer for Frederick, whose eight points in the four-minute OT period pushed his team over the top.

"They got their ball straight into their big man, and he knew what to do with it," Grubb said.
Young had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Patton added seven points and Javier Medina chipped in 13 points and seven assists.

"We made a lot of mistakes, but we know what we need to work on to get better," Medina said. "They made it hard to get the ball into the post, and that's something we need to work on."

Harris said the effort his team showed was exactly what he's looking for this early in the season and that the Streaks played well against the best big man they'd likely see all season. Still, there's plenty to work on before Tuesday's meeting with Avon Park.

"Defense got us into overtime tonight," Harris said. "It may not win every game, but defense wins championships, and that's something I tell my team every day. We'll work on it in practice, and we'll definitely be shooting a lot of free throws."

NOTES: Sebring was 25 of 65 (38 percent) from the field, while Lake Gibson was 26 of 67 (39 percent) ... Robinson hit all four of Sebring's 3-point shots ... Lake Gibson's Jordan Oliveras had 13 points ... The game hard more than 40 fouls between the teams, but Frederick didn't pick up his first whistle until overtime ... Sebring's T.J. Williams had three fouls by the 4:27 mark in the first quarter and didn't play again until the third quarter. He finished with two points ... Tuesday's game at Avon Park will be at 1:30, and the varsity game will be played first.

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