By DAN HOEHNE
daniel.hoehne@newssun.com
AVON PARK - It was their season in a nutshell, encapsulated in 32 minutes of game time.
A rough start, missed shots and poor decisions early.
But with a continued effort, the defense kicked in, shots began to fall and heady play down the stretch secured the District 10-4A Tournament title with Avon Park topping DeSoto 56-51 Friday night.
"We've preached it all season long, this is a marathon, not a sprint," first-year head coach Marty O'Hora said. "There were a lot of misses early on, but they played hard and it was a total team effort. We've made progress and are playing for one another and not against each other."
But those early misses caused a little tension among the home crowd as a Recarus Burley leaner, a Gus Owens jumper in the lane and a Tyrone Perry power move in the paint were all that would go on the board in the first period and allowed the visiting Bulldogs to stake a 12-6 lead.
The shots, more specifically free throws, started to fall as the scoring increased in the second, with Steven Roberts going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, Burley hitting four straight and Perry chipping in one.
Perry and Alfred Brown also connected on three-pointers and Jovan Pratt ended the quarter with a steal and score to give the Devils the lead at the half, 25-23.
But DeSoto wasn't going to go down without a fight, figuratively speaking of course, though this was a physical, rough-and-tumble battle as the two playoff-bound teams were scrapping for both the trophy and a home game to start the state tournament.
The Avon Park scoring stayed spread out in the third, with Owens scoring inside, Burley hitting a three, Brown canning a jumper from the wing and Perry driving for two.
But the Bulldogs picked it up and the Devils went cold from the line, missing all four of their foul shots in the frame and DeSoto went back up by a point at 37-36 heading into the final eight minutes.
The 'dogs then looked to break it open as they got the first two scores of the fourth to move up 41-36.
But Brown hit a free throw and a trey before Pratt split a pair at the line to draw the Devils even.
DeSoto went back up on a free throw and basket, but Burley drained one from downtown to even it up again.
The back-and-forth continued until the 2:02 mark, when Perry crashed the offensive glass for a key rebound and putback, drawing a foul in the process, drilling the free throw and putting Avon Park up 50-48.
Travis Lawton then got inside for a score to make it a four-point lead with 1:18 left to play.
And then there was Perry with the key, head's-up play of the night, taking a charge and hitting a free throw to move the lead to five with just over one minute left.
The Bulldogs would get a big three-pointer to create a bit of a stir, but Burley hit a free throw, and when his second one caromed off the rim, he stole it from the DeSoto rebounder.
And moments later, with the Bulldogs forced to foul, Perry hit both of his free throws to secure the district title.
"That was such a big play, Tyrone taking that charge," O'Hora said. "Up just a few points at the time, that really made a big difference. We, the coaches, have always had the big picture in mind during the season and the players have slowly but surely bought into it and it's great to see where it has gotten us."
Which is holding the District 10-4A Tournament trophy, and playing host to District 9-4A runner-up Tampa Catholic on Thursday.
"They've got some big guys and we lost to them twice," O'Hora said of the season's meetings with the Crusaders. "They beat us by like 50 there early in the season, but when we played them here, I think they were a little overconfident and we really gave them a game before we lost by about 10. I think they know they're going to have to come to play."
Sunday, February 10, 2013 - www.newssun.com/SUN-2-10-13-APBB