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Devils Dash Past Dragons

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park's Alonzo Robertson snags the ball away from Lake Placid's Devontra Flemming during Monday's cross-county match-up.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: January 7, 2009

AVON PARK - The level of competition that a team plays is almost as important as wins and losses.

The Avon Park and Lake Placid boys basketball teams are rolling the dice, hoping that the lumps they took over the holiday will translate into wins in the district tournament.

Lake Placid got a wake-up call from there cross-county rivals Sebring during the recent Jim Taveniere Holiday Invitational and Avon Park continued to pick holes in the Green Dragons game in the Red Devils 66-29 win on Monday.

Lake Placid head coach David Veley says his team is still a work-in-progress but he was hoping for more intensity than the Green Dragons showed against the Red Devils.

"We didn't come out like we did against Walker Academy on Saturday," Veley said. "We had chances to hang with them early in the game, but we made too many bad decisions and had too many lapses on defense, which led to easy baskets for Avon Park.

"I'm hoping that we're going through our growing pains now and that playing against these high level teams will help us when we begin our district play on Friday against Frostproof."

Avon Park's pressure defense forced 27 Green Dragon turnovers and the Red Devils wasted little time in blowing the doors wide open against Lake Placid, as they jumped out to a 25-10 first quarter lead and never looked back.

The Red Devils played in two holiday tournaments - the T-Mac Holiday Invitational and the KSA Christmas Tournament at Disney - which tested every aspect of their game.

"We played some top-notch teams at both tournaments and I think we showed ourselves that when our game is on, we can pretty much play with any team," said Avon Park head coach Luther Clemons.

Avon Park had a chance to knock off Miami-Gulliver Prep, which is ranked in the top 10 in Class 3A this season, but a few miscues down the stretch led to a 49-43 loss that center Cleveland Nobles said should be a road map for the district tournament.

"Playing against teams from Kentucky and New Jersey really showed us that basketball isn't played the same," Nobles said. "We were exposed to many different styles of basketball and I think that will be helpful when teams try to game plan against us later in the season.

"There isn't much we haven't seen in the way of offensive or defensive schemes this year."

Nobles led the way for Avon Park against Lake Placid by scoring a game-high 16 points, followed by guard Avierre Conner with 15 points. Xavier Caldwell chipped in with nine points in the win.

With Sebring head coach Princeton Harris in attendance, Avon Park has sent a clear message to their archrivals that they're a team not to be taken lightly.

"That game against Sebring is one that everyone on the team has circled," Nobles said. "The Streaks are a really disciplined team and Coach Harris always has them prepared.

"Sebring beat us in football so I think there is a few of us that want to get even."

Clemons believes that the Sebring game holds the key to the district with the winner likely to be ranked No. 2 or 3 in the district tournament.

"That game against Sebring is going to decide the top three spots in the tournament," said the AP coach. "I haven't seen Sebring play this season but I know that it's going to be a good game."

Against Lake Placid, Avon Park dictated the tempo and shot selection for the Green Dragons, who were down by 31 points moments into the third quarter and scored just two points in the final frame.

"We didn't get a full game out of the team tonight," said Lake Placid forward Kirk Veley. "We have got to work on our ball handling and be able to get past the press and run our offense.

"I am hoping that all these games leading up to this have been a dress rehearsal for our upcoming district schedule."

Veley had 11 points to pace the Green Dragons with Andre Wilson and Travalier Sholtz both adding six points against the Red Devils.

Lake Placid opens their Class 3A-District 10 schedule on Friday when they host Frostproof at 7:30 p.m. while Avon Park travels to face Frostproof on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

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

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