Streaks Snuff Out Tornadoes

Blue Streak coach Princeton Harris certainly gave his team a memorable halftime speech during Friday's crucial Class 4A-District 10 meeting with Booker.

Thing was, it took a few minutes to sink in.

On a night the Sebring boys basketball team knew it needed a victory to have a chance at the second seed in the upcoming district tournament, the Blue Streaks were sluggish in the first half before gearing up and cruising to a 71-45 drubbing of the Tornadoes.

"Coach told us we weren't playing the way we were supposed to," said Sebring sophomore Devin Clarke, who led all scorers with 19 points, in what was perhaps the understatement of the night. "He gave us a talking-to and we did our jobs."

Leading by eight at the half, Sebring needed a few possessions to let Harris' instructions sink in, as Booker went on an early run to tie the game at 30 with five minutes left in the third. But the Streaks answered in a big way, rattling off 14 straight points and closing the period on an 18-2 run to take a 48-32 lead heading into the fourth.

Senior guard Chris Grubb, who finished with 14 points, said the risk of impending soreness spurred the Streaks to pick up their intensity in the second half.

"Harris wasn't happy," Grubb said with a grin. "We got a yelling, and especially with the threat of the kind of practice we'd have on Monday and what he would do to us; that got us kicked into gear."

Harris characterized the speech as "pretty stern."

"It wasn't one of my quiet ones," he said. "It was pretty straightforward."

Unfortunately, such forthrightness doesn't exist in the district just yet: With the win, Sebring tied Avon Park (who knocked off top-seeded Palmetto on Friday) for the second-best record in 4A-D10. With the next two seeds (DeSoto and Braden River) also tied, a series of tiebreakers will determine exact brackets for the district tournament beginning Feb. 9 in at Hardee High School, though Avon Park coach Luther Clemons said the Devils would earn the second seed because of their regular-season sweep of DeSoto.

Whatever the case, the Streaks picked up some momentum in their final district game.

Joe Young scored 12 points and Spencer Caton scored 10 points off the bench, including a crowd-pleasing 3-pointer as time expired. Young, who battled flue symptoms earlier in the week, said the Streaks picked up their game when they started taking care of the details.

"We weren't doing the small things when we needed to," Young said. "But we came out (after half) and started working hard on defense and getting into the faces of who we were supposed to."

Harris said it was important for his team to step up and win a crucial game when they needed it, and that no matter how the district seedings shake out, his team will be ready to play.

"It's big to know we can do it," Harris said. "We stepped up to the plate and did it, instead of just being capable of doing it.

"We talk about that all the time."

Sebring's final regular-season home game will be on Friday night against Lake Placid.

NOTES: Sebring's Tevin Toney scored seven points, while Colton Statler added six ... Stone Holloway led the Tornadoes with 10 points, while Larry Polynice had nine ... Referees did not show up to the JV game, which meant Harris and a Booker coach dawned whistles and called the game. Two officials were found for the varsity game, and they were busy: There were a combined 49 fouls in the contest.