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This was an important one for Lely.

After losing their last two district games to Golden Gate and Naples, the Trojans won their second consecutive game on Tuesday night, as they took down Palmetto Ridge, 74-65.

Palmetto Ridge still leads 4A District 12 with a 6-1 record, and second-place Lely won’t catch them with its 5-4 district record, but the Bears won the first encounter between the two teams on Nov. 30, and Lely came back this time with something to prove.

Lely actually took a two-point lead into halftime, with the score 40-38, but strong defense by the Trojans led to Bears’ miscues in the second half that proved to make all the difference.

“We went into the game knowing that we had to mix it up a little bit,” Lely coach Don Stewart said. “I thought our guys did a real good job of reading their patterns and their movement; Justo Vasquez made some good steals at the end with Jared Stewart. If we would have made our free throws at the end, we might have won by 20.”

True to Stewart’s evaluation, Lely took a 58-52 lead into the fourth quarter, and didn’t let up on its defensive pressure. Palmetto scored in flurries, and looked like it could have gone on a run when Sean Thebaud scored his 10th point of the second half a minute into the final quarter on a long three-pointer.

Moments before he drove in a layup through Lely’s zone defense, but soon after he picked up his fourth personal foul and effectively took himself out of the game.

Other than that, Lely’s fourth quarter zone defense worked to perfection. Lely forced Palmetto to swing the ball around the perimeter, and when Vasquez wasn’t cutting off passing lanes and making steals, the Trojans’ backcourt forced the Bears into shooting errant three pointers.

“I think that we certainly had our opportunities there at the end, but we certainly didn’t move the ball real well against the zone,” Bears head coach Joe Rader said. “Initially when they did that, I was like, why? In the first half we were really shooting the ball well against that, but I know he did that to make us work harder and longer to take time off the clock.”

Lely managed to create good opportunities for itself from its tough defense, but was better off when it was able to run its offense. Lely was only 7-for-18 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Trojans point guard Dylan DeFeo terrorized the Bears, playing one of his best games all season and scoring a team-high 21 points. As the game progressed, he finished as Lely’s second biggest threat in the post, but he also dropped in three three-point baskets.

“He’s able to get to the basket and score, plus he’s real tough out in the open court,” Stewart said. “He brings a lot to our team and makes it real hard for our opponents to match up with him.”

Lely’s most dominant presence on the low block came in the form of Parker Ayers, who dumped in 15 points coming off the bench and going toe-to-toe against Palmetto’s frontcourt duo of Thebaud and Sean Smikle.

“He’s real long, he’s active and he gave us a major contribution tonight,” Stewart added. “He’s also real quick off the floor, so when he catches the ball near the basket, he’s going to score and he came down with some key rebounds.”

Palmetto had strong outings from the players that usually step up and deliver; Tyler Terrell had 12 points, Thebaud had 22, and Tony Leggett came off the bench to put up 12 as well. However, the turnovers throughout the course of the game for Palmetto on offense proved to outweigh those totals.

“We had opportunities, but we just really couldn’t take advantage of them,” Rader said. “I thought in the first half we did a good job offensively, but we had a tough time matching up in transition. We’re flying back and stopping the ball, but I think a lot of times our guys are worried about their man rather than matching up – we just weren’t communicating real well.”

LELY (74)

DeFeo 8 2-5 21, Stewart 1 2-2 5, Jandro 3 1-4 7, Vasquez 6 1-5 18, Nadeau 1 1-2 3, Ayers 6 3-5 15, Charelus 0 0-2 0, Wilkie 0 0-0 0, Marcelin 2 0-0 5

PALMETTO RIDGE (65)

Herrera 2 0-0 5, Rupena 4 1-3 10, Terrell 6 0-2 12, Thebaud 9 0-0 22, Smikle 2 0-0 4, Leggett 4 4-4 12, Falisi 0 0-0 0

Lely 19 21 18 16 — 74

Palmetto Ridge 21 17 14 13 — 65

Three Pointers: L - DeFeo (3), Vasquez (3), Stewart, Marcelin, P - Rupena, Thebaud (4); Team Fouls: L - 12, P - 18; Technicals: none; Fouled Out: P - Smikle