Highlanders handle Blue Streaks

Despite shooting an ice-cold 24 percent from the floor and committing 18 turnovers, the Sebring boys basketball team had a chance to pull out a much-needed win against Lake Wales on Thursday night.

But the Blue Streaks missed a tying shot and committed three consecutive turnovers to let the Highlanders escape with a 59-49 win in a Class 5A-District 5 game.

"We shot terrible and it's really frustrating because this was a game we could have won," said Sebring veteran coach Princeton Harris. "We had good looks at the basket and the only thing we can do is to keep shooting and hope the shots start falling."

The win improved Lake Wales to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in district play, while the loss dropped Sebring to 1-4, 1-4.

"We didn't follow our assignments, fell behind early and just didn't do what we needed to do to get a win," said Harris. "We're trying to get our guys to understand that we need to work to our advantage, which is inside the paint with our post players.

"We don't seem to get the ball inside enough, and if it's not there, we need to be patient, reset the offense and try again because there isn't a shot clock in high school basketball."

Lake Wales started the game on a 10-0 run, fueled by forward Terry Bradley, who scored eight of his team-high 18 points, before the Blue Streaks called a timeout.

Sebring came out refocused and battled back behind Tevin Toney, who scored six of his team-high 18 points, to help the Blue Streaks trim their deficit to 18-10 heading into the second quarter.

Toney, who also pulled down 12 rebounds, dominated the paint against the smaller Highlanders, but he and forward Robert Campbell picked up several fouls in the physical game, and both players had to spend time on the bench as Lake Wales took a 27-22 lead into the half.

"We got good shots when we worked the ball inside," said Harris. "Lake Wales tried to front our post players in the second period and we didn't do a very good job of adjusting to that and using the lob pass and taking the other options that were available.

"Tevin had a solid game for us, but we couldn't get anybody else to score on a consistent basis."

Campbell, who had nine rebounds and four blocks, scored six points in the third quarter to help Sebring stay within six points heading to the final eight minutes.

Devin Clarke swished a baseline jumper to bring the Blue Streaks within 46-44 with 4:59 remaining, but Lake Wales went to a full-court press and Sebring committed three consecutive turnovers, which the Highlanders converted into easy baskets to take a commanding 52-44 lead.

Sebring was forced to foul and Lake Wales converted enough of its free throws to hold off the Blue Streaks for the district victory.

Sebring plays at Liberty next Tuesday night to close out its district schedule before the Christmas vacation.

"We need to get a win against Liberty because it's a district game," Harris said. This is a very tough district and all of the teams are going to have few losses, but we can't afford many more. Hopefully, we can beat Liberty and come back and win all of our district games in January."