By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

The final boys basketball game at the old Osceola High gym Monday at first looked like so many of the others played there over the past six decades.

The host Kowboys ran to an 8-0 lead over 5A-5 district rival Lake Wales and looked unstoppable.

But, Lake Wales may be a state tournament team in March, and it displayed that talent by coming back for a 69-62 win before about 500 fans.

The Kowboys, who go to Winter Haven tonight, are scheduled to christen the new gym Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. against Liberty.

Guard Michael Sanchez led OHS with 21 points, while Antonio Benitez scored 14 and Nigel Daise added 13, but Lake Wales countered with a balanced attack that put five players in double figures, led by center Marcel White’s 15.

OHS slipped to 1-3 after losing to defending Class A state champion Orlando Christian Prep and West Orange at the Winter Park Tip-off Classic last week.

“We’ve played three ranked teams in a row. OCP and West Orange are ranked, and Lake Wales will be,” Kowboys Coach Steve Mason said. “Lake Wales does a great job of pressuring the ball and taking you out of your offense. To beat them, like we did three times last year, you have to be able to make your own shot.”

Osceola led 31-30 at the half and 48-43 in the third quarter before the Highlanders went on a 13-0 run that put them ahead for good, 56-48.

Mason, who has seen his team lose as many games in early December as it did all last season (22-3), said he is not surprised.

“I knew when I made this schedule that we were going to take some shots early,” he said. “Losing (last year’s leading scorer) Brenton Williams, I knew it would take time for everyone to find their roles, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Mason is confident that the Kowboys will figure things out.

“We made this schedule to get us ready for the playoffs,” he said.

“The mistakes we made are correctable, and we’ll correct them. The thing I told the kids is that as long as they play hard, and they played hard Monday, I won’t have a problem with that. Right now, Lake Wales is a better team than we are.”

The Kowboys visited Haines City Wednesday.