Southeast's Big Three spark boys basketball district semifinal win over Lakewood

BRADENTON -- Three years ago, when he took over the Southeast boys basketball program, Floyd Watkins sat down with his talented trio of sophomores and talked about how they were going to win a district championship before they walked through the graduation line.

That trio, now known as the Big Three of the Southeast boys basketball team, is running out of chances, but after disposing of pesky St. Petersburg Lakewood 74-58 Wednesday night in a Class 5A-District 11 semifinal, they are where they want to be.

Southeast (19-7) travels to top seed St. Petersburg Gibbs on Friday night for the district title. The Seminoles lost by four and five points to the Gladiators this season.

"We are as confident as we can be going up there, but they are a state-ranked team and don't lose many games," Watkins said. "But in order to win the fight you've got to be in it and we are in it."

At times against Lakewood, the Seminoles appeared to be looking ahead to Friday.

They had a 16-point lead in the first two minutes of the third quarter that Lakewood (13-12) whittled down to 42-35 with 1:13 left in the period.

But the Noles Big Three (Tre Alexandrea, Corey Davis and Ronald Taylor) kept Southeast from allowing Lakewood to get any closer.

Davis was the catalyst. The forward had a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and converted 8 of 13 field-goal attempts.

"I was a little bit worried, I was worried that we would actually let them think they had a chance to beat us. We know that when we have our foot on their throat we want to keep it there," Davis said. "It was our turnovers that let them back in and that is something we've got to work on."

Southeast ended the third quarter on a 6-2 run to take a 48-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Seminoles stretched it to 58-41 with five minutes left thanks to a 10-4 run sparked by Jon Colon, who drove for a layup and drained a 3-pointer.

"There was definitely some trepidation there. We wanted to get a relatively comfortable lead, but sometimes a lead doesn't remain comfortable if you don't do the things that helped you get the lead," Watkins said. "Lakewood came in here not ready for their season to be over and played hard. We beat them by 29 at their place. It was a great breakthrough for us because since I came here (coaching) I had never won in St. Pete.

Ronald Taylor had 12 points, three rebounds and five assists. Alexandrea contributed 11 points, recorded nine assists and had four steals. Alex Taylor had 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

The Noles were 0-5 against Lakewood in the first two years under Watkins until beating the Spartans three times this season.

"Corey is explosive and really helped us tonight. Him, Tre and Ronald are three-year starters, and I am most happy for them," Watkins said. "This is something we talked about in 2013, and now they have a chance to play for a district championship. We've been talking about this since they were in the 10th grade. Our guys think now is the time."

Southeast dominated the boards, outrebounding Lakewood 25-16 and limited the Spartans to 40 field goal attempts (made 18). The Seminoles were 24-52 from the field.

Alan Dell, Herald Sports Writer,can be reached at 941-745-7056. Follow him on Twitter@ADellSports.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Southeast's Big Three spark boys basketball district semifinal win over Lakewood ."