By Jeff Odom
The Academy at the Lakes boys basketball team is basking in the playoff spotlight for the second straight season.
The Wildcats (14-12) upset second-seed Cambridge Christian 73-68 in the Class 2A-District 8 semifinals to earn a spot in the postseason, but fell to No. 1 Tampa Bay Christian 80-40 in the final Feb. 8.
Offensively, the academy has performed well with sophomore guard Ethan Haslam averaging 17.4 points and 5.0 rebounds, along with junior point guard Malik Hall (11.0 points) running the offense.
However, the inability to put together four consistent quarters has plagued the team at times throughout the season, and coach Tom Haslam wants to change that.
“It’s getting better,” Tom said. “Not where we want it to be, but it’s better. We had spells (against Cambridge) where we got down by 10 twice in the first half. … You can’t do that against good teams, and we can’t keep fighting from behind every game.”
Ethan has been one of the biggest keys to the academy’s success, especially when the team has needed a scoring boost.
The 1,000-point career scorer said his teammates are getting hot at the right time and hopes the momentum boost from the win over Cambridge, a team that has won multiple district titles, turns into another trip to the region finals and beyond.
“This is what we’ve been looking forward to the whole time,” Ethan said. “It felt great to beat them this time, and it’s really motivated us to go further, and it just pumps us up and gives us lots of energy. … This is been a good experience for everybody, and it’s going to carry over into regionals.”
While the record may not stand out, Tom said he wanted to make the regular season schedule as hard as possible to give his squad a taste of playoff-type talent around the area.
“Kids from other schools see a little 2A school, barely a winning record, and think we can’t be that good, but if you look at our schedule we’ve had close games all year,” Tom said. He added, “There was a point at the beginning of the season where our opponents were 27-1. … Every game we’ve had, with the exception of maybe three games, have been close one way or the other. I think that helps us and it helped us beat Cambridge.”
Senior guard Tony Arrington (5.1 points) added that he feels like the team is better than last year because of the tough schedule.
“Everybody’s contributed to the effort, whether it’s defense, offense, rebounding or just cheering from the bench,” Arrington said. “We’re trying to start a winning tradition at this school. We just have to get back to where we were last year and hopefully go far.”
The Wildcats travel to Lake Wales Vanguard for their regional quarterfinal Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
