By ERIKA CORD
News-Sun correspondent
SEBRING - The little extra bit of rest to start the season extended about one quarter too long Thursday night, as the Blue Streaks dug themselves an early hole they wouldn't be able to dig out of in a 65-55 loss to visiting Ridge.
In recent seasons, head coach Princeton Harris had jumped right from the annual Tip-Off Tournament into the regular season to get his team going.
Often, though, the influx of returning football players caused a bit of a disconnect given the lack of practice time as a full squad.
This year, Harris sought to hold off on the games in order to give his team more time to gel on the practice floor.
But the time between games, nearly two weeks since their last competition, caused an early lull that had the Bolts taking control with a 25-8 tilt after the opening period.
"We were really pressured in this game, and we turned the ball over too much which gave our offense no chance," said assistant coach LaVaar Scott. "But they fought really hard and kept their intensity up the entire game."
From there, the Sebring defense kicked into gear and held Ridge to 15 points or fewer in each of the final three quarters while the offense tried to climb back into it.
Foul trouble began to plague the Bolts and the Streaks made the most of their chances at the line and began chipping away.
Also in the second quarter, freshman Connor Cook grabbed a steal off a rebound battle and took it the length of the floor for a score.
But Ridge was able to virtually maintain the lead, though not extend it, as the teams went into the half with a 38-22 margin.
It was a back-and-forth third period, with the Bolts adding a deuce to their lead, to make it a 53-35 difference heading into the final eight minutes.
And that's where the continued intensity took hold and began to bring the boys in blue back.
The Streaks got scoring contributions across the board as they poured in 20 points over the final span.
And though it would cut the lead to a respectable spread by the end, that 17-point difference in the opening frame was just too much to overcome.
Decaris Jones lead the Sebring scoring effort with 10, while Josh Austin, Luke Ancrum and Cook each tallied six.
"Our best competition of the season will probably be our district games and we want to do our best to extend our season (by doing well in district)," Scott said. "The biggest problem we have right now is dealing with the (defensive) pressure they'll be throwing at us. We really need to work on dealing with that better."
The Streaks are on the road this week, traveling to Lake Region Monday and facing Ridge in a rematch Thursday.
News-Sun Sports Editor Dan Hoehne contributed to this story.
Sunday, December 02, 2012 - www.newssun.com/SUN-12-2-12-SebBB