HAINES CITY — Lake Wales used a stingy man-to-man defense and Walter Clayton’s 25 points as the Highlanders cruised to a 76-50 victory over Haines City on Friday in the championship of the 2017 Wayne Gandy Christmas Tournament.

The Highlanders (6-4) got off to a quick 8-0 lead and led 16-10 at the close of the first quarter, led by Walter Clayton’s seven points.

When Haines City’s Miguel Carresquilla hit a 3-point shot to pull the Hornets to within 18-15, Clayton answered with two 3-point shots and a dunk extending the Highlanders' lead to 26-17. Raykwon Frazier’s three-point play provided the Highlanders a 29-19 halftime lead.

The Highlanders turned up the intensity in the third quarter outscoring the Hornets 31-17, led by Clayton’s eight points, Detrevion Marlow’s seven points and Frazier’s six points in the quarter.

“We played hard ... we played together," said Lake Wales head coach Don Grant. “We had some breakdowns but we stuck together and if we do that, we will continue to get better.”

“Everyone really played well tonight," said Clayton. “We played well together and got on a good roll.”

Haines City was led by Jason Tisdale and Amari Campbell who each scored 11 points.

Hudson 96, Ridge Community 95

In a wild run-and-gun consolation final, Hudson held off Ridge Communit.

Ridge was down by 10 points with three minutes remaining, however its defensive pressure caused turnovers to keep the Bolts in the game until the very end.

Hudson was led by Mark Calleja and Shawn Esajas who scored 32 and 28 points respectively.

Ridge Community was led by Dayvion Smith who put in 27 points.

Hudson had built its large lead primarily through their third quarter where it outscored Ridge 36-26.