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Highlands Today

Green Dragons Fly Past Eagles

Mark Pinson, Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Avery Young scores on the inside against Walker Memorial's David Jolly 00 during Saturday night's game.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: December 22, 2008

SEBRING - They say the first win of the season is the hardest one to get.

That may be true, but the Lake Placid boys basketball team can finally relax a little bit after knocking off Walker Memorial Academy by a score of 66-39 in the Jim Taveniere Holiday Tournament on Saturday in the Sebring High School gym.

"It feels good to get our first win of the season," said first-year Green Dragon coach David Veley. "We've been in some close games, but it's nice to finally come out on top.

"We're playing better, but we have a lot of things to work on before we get back into our district schedule the first of the year."

Lake Placid, which had a decided size and quickness advantage over the smaller Eagles, jumped out to a quick lead as senior forward Travalier Sholtz, who finished with 11 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots, scored nine points inside the paint to give the Green Dragons a 17-9 lead heading into the second period.

Walker Memorial's Brad Walz tried to rally the Eagles by scoring nine of his 13 points in the second quarter to close the deficit.

But Walz fouled out of the game with two minutes left in the second period and took his offensive ability to the bench.

Walker Memorial dressed out only seven players and the lack of a bench hurt the Eagles as the game progressed against the up-tempo pace the Green Dragons liked to run.

Lake Placid's Kirk Veley scored nine of his team-high 15 points and forward Avery Young added six of his 14 points to give the Green Dragons a 38-21 lead at the half.

"No doubt this game gives us some confidence," said Coach Veley. "We did a good job of dominating the boards and our press forced some turnovers and allowed us to get some easy baskets.

"It's always good to win, but we need to focus on our defensive effort every time we step on the court."

Lake Placid came out running in the third period and used its half-court press to force the Eagles into several turnovers.

Andre Wilson got hot and scored eight of his 15 points as the Green Dragons extended their lead to 53-24 heading into the final stanza.

Walker Memorial's Kevin Fogle tried to rally the Eagles as the diminutive guard nailed three 3-pointers and scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the closing minutes.

Lake Placid spread the floor, ran its offense and made sure to get some good looks at the basket.

The Green Dragons made their free throws down the stretch to close out the contest.

"We needed a win and I know the kids are glad to get it before we go on the holiday break," said Coach Veley. "We've got to work on our transition game and we've got to clean up our turnovers.

"We want to be competitive and that means we have to play defense and rebound every time we play and if we do that, we'll be fine."

Lake Placid is back in action on Jan. 3 with a road game at Walker Memorial and then the Green Dragons are at Avon Park on Jan. 5.

"We're going to work on things over the holiday break and try to become a better team," said Coach Veley. "We want to be a better team when we take the floor in January and the only way to do that is to practice and work hard to improve."

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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