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Bulldogs Chomp Dragons

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Lake Placid’s Conlin Veley (12) goes strong to the basket during Friday night’s game against Ida Baker in the first round of the Turkey Shootout in Cape Coral.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: November 25, 2007

CAPE CORAL — The Ida Baker High School mascot is "The Bulldogs," but after Friday's romp of Lake Placid, they might as well be "The Thieves."

The host school picked the pockets of the Lake Placid basketball squad so much that they should have been handcuffed in downing the Green Dragons 70-43 in the opening round of the two-day Turkey Shootout on Friday.

The loss had LP head coach Levi Williams shaking his head, knowing that his team didn't play at their best.

"We're still trying to find what kind of team we have here," Williams said. "I keep telling these kids that they have to compete for the whole 32 minutes. You can't take quarters or even one play off. You have to come out and compete on every play."

Ida Baker's duo of junior center Jon Skinner and senior forward Demetric Page scored a combined 25 points, but it was their dominance in the paint that spelled doom for the Green-Dragon offense, using their wing span to swat or alter shots and disrupt passes that led to countless fast break points for the Bulldogs.

Skinner scored five points during the game-changing 12-0 run early in the third quarter that expanded a minuscule three-point lead to a commanding 15-point advantage that forced Williams to call a time out.

But there was to be no reprieve for the Green Dragons, as Lake Placid would get no closer than 11 points the rest of the way — scoring just seven points in the final quarter.

"I just played a really bad game tonight," said LP senior Conlin Veley. "We kept making mistakes on defense and making bad passes. We really have to get back to playing fundamental basketball."

Veley finished the game with 10 points, but it was center Travelier Sholtz that made some early noise for the Green Dragons, finishing with 12 points on the night.

The 6-foot-7 Sholtz was a force in the paint and kept Lake Placid within striking distance in the first half.

Down 13-11 heading into the second, LP watched Ida Baker scored seven straight points to take a nine-point lead.

Sholtz scored back-to-back buckets to cut the lead down to five.

Moments later, the Dragons were down 27-19 with two minutes before half time, but forced three Bulldog turnovers in the closing seconds to score five unanswered points to cut the Ida Baker lead to 27-24 and an obvious momentum shift that would be short lived.

Sholtz' presence forced the Bulldog offense to the outside in the first half with some effectiveness, but in the second half junior guard Xavier Battle made the Green Dragons pay.

Battle drained four 3-pointers on the night to finish with a game-high 22 points, squashing rally after Green Dragon rally.

Nagging knee and ankle injuries kept Sholtz on the bench for long spurts and Ida Baker took advantage of his absence, but Williams was upbeat by what he saw from his center.

"We like to use him as much as possible," the LP head coach said. "Right now, we're trying to get him in better condition but those injuries have been bothering him lately."

Veley saw the Green-Dragon offense flow much better with the big man in the middle.

"It is nice to have an inside presence, especially with the size of Ida Baker," the Green Dragon senior said. "[Sholtz] was making shots early and I thought he was disrupting what they wanted to do on offense. But [Ida Baker's] big men were really athletic and great passers as well.

"They just picked us apart."

With the loss, Lake Placid played the Boca Ciega Pirates on Saturday in the final day of the tournament. For results, see Monday's Highlands Today.

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