Explosive second half carries Avon Park

In a week replete with rivalries, the Avon Park boys basketball team delivered a resounding statement Tuesday.

"We don't plan on losing," forward Alonzo Robertson said.

Sure looks that way, too.

Robertson scored 27 points while turning in one of his most dominating performances of the season, and Avon Park stretched its unbeaten streak to eight games with a 74-39 rout of county rival Lake Placid.

"I'm not worried about county bragging rights," said Avon Park coach Luther Clemons, whose team hosts Sebring in the oft-entertaining non-district game tonight in the Red Devils gym.

"I'm worried about the district. We want to get in the playoffs this year and I think we've got the people to do it."

Avon Park (8-0) blew open a tight game by outscoring Lake Placid 28-2 in the third quarter, an 8-minute stretch in which the Red Devils played suffocating defense and scored easy baskets in transition.

Despite outplaying a woefully undersized opponent, Avon Park led by only six points at halftime. That's when Clemons and assistant coach Alvin Conner gathered the players in the locker room and broke down the situation in the simplest of terms:

Tighten up or lose the undefeated record.

The coaches then walked away, letting the players sort it out - and you see the result.

"These are pretty good guys," Clemons said, "and they knew what they were missing."

And that was?

"That chemistry, continuity, playing for each other instead of for themselves," Clemons said.

The Red Devils promptly exploded in the third quarter, using largely the same formula that brought them success in the first half - slashing guards, unmatched athleticism near the rim and constant pressure on the ball-handler.

A 28-2 run. Thirty of the next 35 points. Yes, by the start of the fourth quarter, Robertson and the rest of the starters were on the bench, the clock was running nonstop and the only mystery was who would make the next play to stir the frenzied crowd.

"I've seen them do that before when we came out real flat in the first quarter and then exploded," Clemons said. "But I haven't seen us hold an opponent to two points before."

Avierre Connor scored 16 points and Van'Derkel Clayton added 12 for the Red Devils, who have rarely been challenged in their new district this season, winning each of their past five games by an average of 25 points. They also have everyone healthy, with forward Teddy Allen back in the starting lineup after missing the first six games while rehabbing a hamstring injury.

"We can go far this season," Robertson said, "and we don't want to settle for anything less than the Lakeland Center," site of the state playoffs.

The game began rather frantically, with Avon Park carelessly defending in the lane and Lake Placid barely able to clear the ball across halfcourt without incident.

The Green Dragons, despite their length, had no answer inside for Robertson, who soared for rebounds and kept putting up second-chance opportunities until they fell.

Andre Wilson was the lone Lake Placid scorer to finish in double figures. He had 21.