AP's comeback bid falls short, loses in OT to Clewiston

Alonzo Robertson scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, Reggie Baker added 18 and Avon Park staged a furious late-game rally before losing to Clewiston, 69-66, in overtime on Thursday night in the Bill Jarrett Tip-Off Tournament finale.

"When you spot a team 20 points and did yourself into a hole," Red Devils assistant coach Alvin Conner said, "it's hard to overcome that deficit."

But Avon Park did just that, twice missing potential game-winning shots in the final seconds.

The Red Devils held a 66-64 lead with 52.5 seconds left in overtime after Robertson sank two free throws, but Clewiston's Ra'Vin Lee drained a 3-pointer from the corner. After a turnover and Demetris Allen's miss on the front end of a 1-and-1, Baker's floater in the lane with 4 seconds remaining rimmed out. Johnny Jackson then made two free throws to ice the win.

"We knew we could come back, we weren't stressing that," Robertson said. "We came back from 20 points down, and that's all you can ask of our team."

Indeed, Avon Park trailed big before a remarkable stretch in the fourth quarter, when Avierre Conner and Baker exchanged 3-pointers, sparking a 9-0 run that tied the game at 52 with 2 minutes remaining.

After Clewiston pushed its lead back to five points, Tekovan Miller drained a long jump shot and Robertson made a layup in traffic.

The teams exchanged baskets until another layup by Robertson tied the game at 59, when Baker forced a turnover and was fouled with 8.8 seconds left in regulation. Off the inbounds play, Miller had a good look at a potential game-winner from the top of the key, but the shot didn't fall.

"We had an opportunity at the end," Alvin Conner said, "but we just couldn't execute."

Avon Park - which had a significant size advantage inside, with Robertson and the 6-foot-6 Cleveland Nobles - couldn't hang with Clewiston's perimeter players through the first three quarters. Four Tigers finished in double figures, led by Jackson's 17 points.

"They faced adversity right in the face and they could have gotten blown out in front of their home crowd," Conner said, "but we gave ourselves a chance to win."

Now, Avon Park will have four days to prepare for its regular-season opener, on Monday against McKeel Academy.

"This was one heck of a game for a preseason tip-off tournament. The fans got their money's worth, and it was a playoff-like atmosphere," Conner said. "Hopefully we can take this game with us and see where we end up at."

Bauer prepares for today's state meet

SEBRING - Blue Streaks senior Connor Bauer will look to crack the top 10 today when he runs in the Class 3A state cross country meet in Dade City.

Bauer, the 16th-ranked runner entering the meet, charted a third-place run of 16 minutes, 32 seconds in the regional meet, despite falling in the opening stretch of the race. He said afterward that he was kicked in the back of the legs at the half-mile point, only to recover and finish in the top 15 to advance to states.

"That was the most unusual race I've ever run and I was pretty worried," Bauer said recently, "but I made it to state and I'm looking forward to running in Dade City because I love that course."

Bauer placed second in the district meet - also with a time of 16:32 - and will look to improve upon his personal-best mark of 15:59, set last year at the state meet, where he finished eighth overall in Class 2A.

"The Dade City course fits my style of running and I want to break 15:50 because I'm motivated to show that I can run with the best in the state," he said last week.