By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Speed killed the Oviedo and St. Petersburg basketball teams Tuesday at the opening round of the 31st Great Florida Shootout at the Kissimmee Civic Center.

Oviedo, led by legendary Coach Ed Kershner, who holds the state record with 779 prep victories, was blasted by host Osceola, 68-52, as the Kowboys scored repeatedly on fast breaks.

St. Petersburg bumped into one of the state’s best teams, No. 1-ranked Class 5A Lake Wales, in another first-round matchup Tuesday and lost, 72-54, to an aggressive Highlander team that pressed throughout the game.

Osceola and Lake Wales played in the semifinal round Wednesday, with the winner advancing to today’s 8:30 p.m. championship contest.

The other semifinal pitted Peachtree Ridge High from Suwanee, Ga., and Perry Central High from Hazard, Ky. The semifinal losers meet today at 7 p.m.

Peachtree Ridge held off Gateway, 57-49, while Perry Central beat Poinciana, 73-65, despite a 43-point effort from Eagles guard Stefan Moody, who signed with Florida Atlantic University.

Osceola (8-2) took advantage of an inexperienced Oviedo lineup that saw a sophomore and two freshmen play for the Lions (7-5).

“We’ll just have to try and get it done, somehow,” Kershner, the former OHS coach who founded the Shootout in 1981, said before the game.

Oviedo scored first, but after that the Kowboys scored in bursts that  gave OHS a 31-18 halftime lead.

Led by senior forwards Stanley Turk (10) and Alain Allard (8) and guards Michael Sanchez (16) and Alex Forde (11), Osceola scored 10 straight in the second quarter.

The game quickly got out of hand in the third period, when junior Josh Antoine scored all 13 of his points as the Kowboys went on a 13-0 run that expanded the lead to 44-21. The Kowboys led by as many as 29 in the fourth quarter when OHS coach Nate Alexander sent in his subs.

Alexander said the Kowboys were stung by back-to-back district losses to East Ridge and Gateway two weeks ago and wanted to atone for that effort.

“I told them after the Gateway loss to remember how this feels,” Alexander said. “They’ve done the work since then.”

Alexander said he was satisfied with the team’s effort.

“I thought Stanley Turk did a good job. He finally showed up,” Alexander said. “Josh Antoine had a great third quarter. It was a good effort by everyone.”

Gateway (7-3) saw a seven-game winning streak snapped against Peachtree Ridge (4-5).

The Panthers, led by David Jerome’s 13 points and seven rebounds, stayed close into the third quarter before the Lions took control with a front line that included 6-4 forward Brandon Jack (nine rebounds), 6-7 sophomore center Amir Warnock (10 points, 6 rebounds) and 6-3 forward Brandon Capps (8 points, 5 rebounds).

The Lions, who held a 33-25 rebounding advantage, got second and third shots on most trips.

Panthers Coach Bob Baker also was disappointed that his team turned the ball over 19 times, far above its season average of 12.

“We had 19 turnovers and six assists. That’s not us,” Baker said after the game. “We’re usually balanced between those two.”

The Panthers, off since beating Osceola Dec. 16, started slowly but held a 23-19 lead in the second quarter as Felix Gonzalez (8), Joseph Mukuvi (4), Justin Peters (6) and Giovanni Guzman (5) scored during a 9-0 run.

“We don’t have superstars. We have to stay in control, make good passes and play solid defense,” Baker said. “I didn’t think our defense played that bad, but we were too inconsistent. They took us out of our game. Give credit to them, they played a little better defense than we expected based on what we had heard about them and what we saw on tape.”

Regardless of the loss, Baker said the Panthers have the makings of a very good team, one capable of reaching the regional playoffs.

“We’re 5-0 in the district and 5-0 in the conference, which isn’t a bad place to be,” Baker said. “It’s disappointing now, but in two or three weeks, will you remember what happened here? Probably not. We’ve got a good team, we have nice balance and I think we are capable of doing some good things down the road.”

Poinciana’s Moody had one of the best games in Great Florida Shootout history against Perry Central, hitting eight 3-point shots and nailing all seven of his free throws during his 43-point explosion. With three assists, Moody was responsible for 49 of the Eagles 65 points. James Nicholson (9) and Paris Greene (8) helped the Eagles (5-5) stay within striking distance of a Commodores (10-2) squad that held off Moody thanks to strong efforts from guard Jaysean Page (32) and 6-6 center Dalton Cornett (20).

Lake Wales (7-2), which usually puts a lineup of athletes 6-2 or better across the floor, forced 21 St. Petersburg (9-3) turnovers with its press. The Highlanders were led by Marcel White’s 12 points and Alante Fenner’s 10. Four Lake Wales starters played in the Class 5A state championship game last season.

Consolation games today begin at 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the Civic Center.

Admission is $10.

Notes: David Apfelbaum, for 17 years the Shootout’s tournament chairman, stepped down this year and visited the tournament Tuesday. “It’s a lot of work to put this together, it starts in January,” he said. Apfelbaum is an administrator for the Seminole County School District. Pete Edwards now is the tournament chairman. Also attending the tournament Tuesday was Larry Brown, the OHS coach three years ago, who now is a junior college coach in Texas. He was scouting along with several more college coaches including FAU Coach Mike Jarvis.