By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The good news for Osceola, Gateway and Poinciana high schools at the 31st Great Florida Shootout at the Kissimmee Civic Center was that all three won at least one game.

The bad news was that Lake Wales also was invited and the No. 1-ranked Class 5A Highlanders dominated the eight-team tournament on its way to the championship Thursday, 69-52, over Peachtree Ridge High of Suwanee, Ga.

The Highlanders used a deep, talented bench to cruise through the tournament and rarely were challenged until Peachtree Ridge closed a 15-point fourth quarter deficit to six, 57-51, with under two minutes to play in the championship game.

But, behind tournament MVP Marcel White, a 6-5 guard/forward, the Highlanders, 10-2, scored the last eight points.

Joining White (13)  in double figures were Russel Wilson and Alante Fenner, each with 14, and Douglas Brooks  (11).

Sophomore Amir Warnock (12) led Peachtree Ridge, 6-6.

Wilson joined White on the all-tournament team along with Peachtree’s Benny Johnson, Poinciana’s Stefan Moody, Gateway’s Felix Gonzalez and Perry Central, Kentucky’s Braxton Beverly, an eighth-grade point guard, and Jaysean Page.

Gateway, 9-3, won the consolation championship over Oviedo, 8-6, 52-45, as Gonzalez scored 24 for the Panthers, including seven shots from 3-point range. Gonzalez had 22 in the Panthers’ 58-57 come-from-behind win against Poinciana Wednesday, including five 3-pointers, when Gateway erased a 12-point deficit.

The Panthers’ only loss came in the first round against Peachtree Ridge, 57-49.

Center David Jerome had 15 against Oviedo and scored in double-figures through the tournament.

Coach Bob Baker said his team showed promise after a good effort at the Shootout.

“I thought against Oviedo, that was a good, disciplined, game. It was the kind of game you like to see,” Baker said.

Oviedo Coach Ed Kershner, whose 778 career wins is a Florida record, said his team is work in progress. The Lions started a sophomore and two freshmen and were without three other players Thursday.

“You just do what you can, a little step at a time,” Kershner, who founded the Shootout in 1981 while coaching at OHS. “Hopefully, at the end of the year, we’ll be better. Bob has done a great job at Gateway and he’s got a good team this year.”

Baker, who with 397 career wins is closing in on a coaching milestone of his own, said his team seems to be maturing.

“What I liked is that we showed patience. For whatever reason we came out a little flat in all three games, but, especially against Poinciana in the second half, we came out like we expect to, with a lot of energy and we won that game,” Baker said. “We’ve got some tough ones coming up, but we’re 5-0 in our conference and 5-0 in our district and that’s not a bad place to be.”

Poinciana’s Moody averaged 34.6 points over three games, ranking among the best efforts in the tournament’s history. The 5-10 guard has signed to Florida Atlantic University and did nothing to disappoint the Owls coaching staff, who came to the tournament.

”We feel like we’re getting a good one,” Owls assistant Tim Kaine said Thursday. “I talked to him the other day after our game, and he told me that he’s ready to come down and play. We’ve got a junior point guard now who will be there the first year he is there, and he understands that. But I told him there’s a chance that we could put them in at the same time.”

Moody had 43 points in a first-round loss to Perry Central and scored 36 against Gateway before finishing with 25 points Thursday in a 48-43 win against St. Petersburg. He thrilled crowds all week with his ball-handling skills, deadly 3-point shooting and with a dunk in the win against St. Petersburg,

“The only way I know to stop him is to keep him from getting into the gym,” Kershner joked Thursday.

The Eagles are 6-6.

Osceola, 8-4, was on the short end of a 76-40 blowout against Perry Central Thursday in the third-place game, a disappointing conclusion to a tournament that started with promise when the Kowboys blitzed Oviedo 69-52, in a first game that wasn’t that close. Osceola led by 29 in the third period.

The Kowboys also lost a lopsided decision to Lake Wales, 73-46, in the semifinals.

Guard Michael Sanchez, with 10, was the only Kowboy in double figures Thursday.

“I thought we’d play better,” Kowboys Coach Nate Alexander said.

Osceola showed a spark in the third quarter, closing a 20-point deficit to 11, 37-26, but Perry Central went on a 15-4 run to make the final period irrelevant.

“We got close, but we got tired and didn’t rotate back on defense,” Alexander said. “We’re looking for a consistent scorer to step up. Right now, everyone we play is putting a lot of pressure on Michael.”

It doesn’t get any easier for the Kowboys. They have a regular season date at Lake Wales Tuesday, then travel to Poinciana Friday before a Jan. 9 trip to Orlando Christian Prep, a state champion and the 2009 Shootout winner.

“It’s tough, but that’s the way I wanted to schedule it,” Alexander said.