Red Devils Take Bite Out Of Dogs

Cleveland Nobles scored nine points and Avierre Conner and Tekovian Miller each added eight on Friday night to lead the Avon Park boys basketball team to a 38-29 victory over DeSoto in a crucial Class 4A-District 10 match.

"It's going to be interesting now," said AP coach Luther Clemons, whose Devils grabbed 27 rebounds and limited their turnovers to keep their hopes for an upper-level playoff seed in tact. "It was a defensive battle. DeSoto's a tough team, very physical and strong.

"We played hard from the start."

The Red Devils now get set for the final week of the district season, beginning with a Tuesday afternoon (1:30 p.m.) in-school game against Sebring and culminating in a clash with Palmetto at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

"We're working on keeping the turnovers down and rebounding," Clemons said.

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Lake Placid 59, Frostproof 40

LAKE PLACID - Kaneisha Hamilton and Kunshee Smith each had 15 points and Stephiney Smith added 14 more on Friday nigh to lead the Lake Placid girls basketball team to a 59-40 victory over Frostproof in a preview of an opening-round district tournament game.

"They played pretty good defense," said Lake Placid coach Shonda Legree. "We went man-to-man the whole game and got a lot of shots off turnovers."

The win clinches the second seed in the Class 3A-District 8 tournament for host Lake Placid, who will host Frostproof on the opening night, Feb. 6. Top-seeded McKeel will face Mulberry in the other game, and the winners will meet on Feb. 7 for the district title.

Legree said her team is excited to see what they can do.

"If we keep the intensity we had tonight," she said. "We should be fine."

BOYS BASKETBALL: Frostproof 52, Lake Placid 33

FROSTPROOF - The Bulldogs secured a regular-season sweep of the Lake Placid boys basketball team with a 52-33 district thumping of the Dragons on Friday night.

Trevalier Sholtz scored 11 points and Andre Wilson added 10, but LP coach David Veley said his team couldn't maintain its intensity level from the opening quarter.

"We missed layups and shot 8 of 21 from the free throw line," Veley said. "We came out in a zone, which is the perfect defense for Frostproof but we didn't have the effort level to make it work.

"We've got to get focused and get to where we're doing the little things we have to do."

The Dragons are back in action on Monday, when they'll host Walker Academy. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.