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Devil 'D' Shuts Down Pirates

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park center Cleveland Nobles drives to the hoop during Tuesday's game against Braden River.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: December 4, 2008

AVON PARK - Defense has been the Avon Park boy's basketball team's calling card all season, and guard Derrick McKenzie made a point to let Braden River experience it first hand.

McKenzie, who's known to his teammates as "Moochie," had 10 steals and six assists while singlehandedly disrupting Braden River's offense, as the Red Devils held the Pirates scoreless for the final five minutes for a 45-37 victory in a Class 4A-District 10 showdown on Tuesday.

Avon Park head coach Luther Clemons wasn't at all surprised at his team's performance in the game-changing fourth quarter.

"This was a great team effort tonight," Clemons said. "We're a defensive team and that's what we have to hang our hat on. The games that we've lost were when we didn't play defense.

"Moochie came up huge for us and did a great job in negating any penetration to the basket, while causing turnovers in the process that led to easy baskets for us."

The win improves Avon Park to 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the district.

Sophomore Alonzo Robertson was the recipient of many of McKenzie's assists as the AP power forward took over down the stretch on the offensive end by scoring nine of his team's 13 fourth quarter points.

"They were doubling Cleveland and that opened things up for me down low," Robertson said. "Moochie was the real key for our offense just by his tenacity on defense."

Robertson finished with a game-high 19 points, as the boys down low made a huge impact for the Red Devils

Center Cleveland Nobles received most of the attention from Braden River, as he fought off countless double teams and Xavier Caldwell added a spark on both sides of the court off the bench, as both players finished with eight points.

"I kept telling Cleveland to go up strong with the ball, but they were doing a good job doubling him to deny the entry pass," Clemons said.

Avon Park's offense hit another stagnant patch, as the Pirates forced turnovers on four consecutive Red Devil possessions to turn a six-point deficit into a 33-32 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Back-to-back baskets by center Kareem Jackson increased Braden River's lead to 37-32 minutes into the final stanza.

That was the final offensive outburst to come from Braden River as Nobles followed his own shot to score and Robertson scored nine-straight points for the Red Devils en route to an eight-point win.

Jackson led the Pirates with 13 points, while guard Willie McNeal added 10 points, as he gave Avon Park fits with his crossover dribble and his ability to penetrate to the basket and score of dish off to one of the big men.

"McNeal did a great job of passing and scoring against us that forced us to make some adjustments," Clemons said. "This was a great team effort tonight because it showed that on any given night we've got someone stepping their game up to help us win."

Braden River had the early advantage by using good ball movement to get numerous players involved - six different players scored in the opening quarter for the Pirates - to build a 12-6 lead, but Avon Park's Avierre Conner launched a ¾ court shot at the buzzer that found the bottom of the net to cut the lead to just three and send the Red Devil fans into a frenzy.

After Avon Park outscored Braden River 13-8 to take a two-point lead into the third, Caldwell's basket off an offensive rebound gave AP a 29-22 lead before the Pirates went on an 11-3 run sparked by McNeal's three-point play that gave the visitors a 33-32 lead at the end of the quarter.

Tensions got a little high midway through the third when Braden River forward Marc McKoan got tangled up with Avon Park's Cleveland Nobles and was called for a technical for shoving the AP player down.

The referees and coaches separated the players and there were no other incidences in the game.

The Red Devils improved from the free throw line, as they went 10-of-16, which was better than the 8-for-23 effort they had last week against Lake Placid.

"We're really trying to improve in all areas of our game," Clemons said. "We gave a lot better effort tonight and we know we have the ability to play with anyone, but it's a question of what kind of effort we bring night in and night out.

"I think the gutsy performance we saw tonight is the kind of team that we'll be seeing all season."

Avon Park is back on the court Thursday when they travel to play Haines City at 7:30 p.m.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Braden River 51, Avon Park 37

Braden River's Heather Mirabella knocked down four 3-pointers on the night and helped spark a huge third quarter run with a trio from beyond the arc that dismantled Avon Park, who fell 51-37 to the Pirates in a Class 4A-District 10 clash on Tuesday.

AP coach Paulette Daley wasn't kind in her assessment of her team's performance against the Pirates.

"We missed way too many defensive assignments and Mirabella killed us from the outside," Daley said. "I'm not too pleased with the way we've been playing lately after the great start to the season we had.

"We really needed that district win."

The loss drops the Red Devils to 2-3 on the season and 2-1 in the district, while Braden River is 4-0 and 3-0 in the district.

Mirabella set the tone for the Pirates on the opening possession of the third quarter, by knocking down a wide open 3-pointer that saw Daley yell for better defense from her team that saw a 16-14 Braden River half time lead expand to 16 on the strength of missed assignments.

"We really got away from what we do best and that's play defense," Daley said. "We weren't moving our feet and Braden River really hurt us with their inside/outside play."

Inside play was handled by center Briannia Dawling, who scored nine of her game -high 21 points during that third quarter run, while the Pirates held Red Devil center Brearnna Tate to just two points and no field goals on the night.

"They did a good job of disrupting our offense and crowding the middle to make every shot a tough one," Tate said. "We just really need to get back on track as a team. We're better than this."

Mirabella, who finished with 16 points on the night, did a great job of feeding Dawling down low or kicking it out to sophomore guard Caitlyn Beneditto that picked apart an over-matched Red Devil squad.

Beneditto finished with nine points for the Pirates.

In only their fourth year in existence, Braden River has showed that they have the talent and now have the experience to compete with the best that the district has to offer.

"This is the first year that we have seniors and that has made a world of difference," Pirates head coach Amy Brush-VanHoof said. "Heather has always been deadly from outside and she knows she has a green light to shoot, but I really like the way she distributes the ball. She really set the tone offensively for us."

Benedetto kept the pressure on the Avon Park offense by forcing numerous turnovers and had eight steals in the game to help feed the Pirate offense during their third quarter run.

Avon Park tried to get back into the game in the final quarter with a 12-7 run, but the hole was too big, as the Red Devils would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Daley was asking herself questions after the game and wondering what was missing from her team since the holiday break.

"I not going to use Thanksgiving as an excuse," Daley said. "We need to find that "oomph" that we had at the beginning of the year when we beat Sebring.

"That's the team I'm looking for."

Senior Daija Barrett lead the Red Devils with 11 points, after being held to just two points on Monday against Fort Meade, while Markida Hawthorne and Beonca Godfrey both added nine points in the loss.

Avon Park is back on the court on Friday when they host district foe Hardee. Game time is at 6 p.m.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5837 or choffman@highlandstoday.com

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