FHSAA Basketball Playoff Bracket
>> click here<<

Dreadnaughts Drop Out
By Brandt Merritt - The Ledger - Posted Feb. 28, 2009
Going into halftime down 20 points, Lakeland boys basketball head coach Deron Collins was trying to find the words to keep his team playing hard in the second half. He also was staring reality in the face. "As hard as it was at halftime to tell young men to fight and come back, in my heart of hearts I knew down that many it was a daunting task," Collins said. Orlando Olympia (26-4) forced 14 first-half turnovers to build a 39-19 lead and kept the pressure on in the second half to beat the Dreadnaughts, 72-48, in the Class 6A-Region 2 final in front of about 1,000 fans at the LHS gym Saturday.
Click here for full story

Dreadnaughts Steam Into First Regional Final Since '79
By Brandt Merritt - The Ledger - Posted Feb. 24, 2009
For the fourth consecutive season, the Lakeland Dreadnaughts were playing in the Class 6A regional semifinals Tuesday night. For the first time since 1979, they will be playing in the regional finals on Saturday. Richie Edwards and Derrick Austin each made two free throws in the final minute and Lakeland held on for a 48-43 boys basketball victory against Tampa Sickles in front of about 900 fans at the LHS gym. The Dreadnaughts (24-3) will host Orlando Olympia (25-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday with a spot in the FHSAA Finals at The Lakeland Center on the line.

Everett, Naughts Rout Devils
Lakeland Wins Regional Quarter Final
St. Petersburg head coach Christopher Blackwell said after Thursday night's game he wanted to make the Lakeland Dreadnaughts beat his team from the outside. The Dreadnaughts, specifically Quinton Everett, did just that. Everett, a senior, scored 30 points to lead Lakeland past the Green Devils, 76-58, in a Class 6A boys basketball regional quarterfinal in front of about 300 fans at the LHS gymnasium. The No. 6 Dreadnaughts (23-3) will host No. 5 Tampa Sickles (24-4) in the regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Click here for full story.

Regional Tournament this Thursday
Lakeland Boys Basketball will host the first round of the regional tournament this Thursday against St. Petersburg High. Game time is 7:00 pm  please let your students know about this weeks  game!!!

Dreadnaughts Win Third Straight District Crown

In a battle of top 10 teams, the top-seeded Lakeland Dreadnaughts captured their third straight Class 6A, District eight championship with a 60-44 victory over Sarasota Riverview at Durant High School Saturday night. The 22-3 Dreadnaughts will host the loser of Tampa Sickles and St. Petersburg Thursday night. The 25-5 Rams will play the winner of that game on the road the same night. Lakeland's Richie Edwards, who took a half to get going in the semifinal game against Plant City, did not waste time in this game as he scored 13 of the team's 22 first-half points. Click here for full story

Naughts Clip Eagles
The Dreadnaughts Boys Basketball (9-3) had three players reach double figures in the 72-56 win over the Eagles. Quinton Everett led the Dreadnaughts with 22 points, Richie Edwards scored 19 points, and Zach Palmer scored 10.

Dreadnaughts Sweep Kathleen High School
Kathleen and Lakeland have a boys basketball rivalry again. That was Dreadnaughts head coach Deron Collins' first thoughts after his team outlasted the Red Devils in overtime, 58-57, Thursday night at the LHS gym to sweep the season series in front of about 350 fans. Richie Edwards' two free throws with 7.5 seconds left gave the Dreadnaughts (7-3) the lead, and Van'Derkel Clayton's shot fell short at the buzzer for Kathleen. "You're not going to get a better high school basketball game than that," Collins said. The Red Devils (5-6) had dominated the series, not losing to Lakeland in at least 10 years, and according to some Lakeland officials since the 1979-1980 season. That streak ended when Lakeland won, 52-49, in December, and it completed the sweep Thursday. Click here for full article.

Dreadnaughts Defeat Lake Gibson 65-57
Leading the Naughts was Richie Edwards with 27 points and Quinton verett with 19 points.

Dreadnaught Alumn, Jordan Prais Leading St. Leo University
Currently leading the Lions in scoring, averaging a tick under 18 points a game, the Lakeland, Florida native sits at exactly 1,000 points with his golden point coming in Fairbanks, Alaska on the front-end of a pair of free-throws with 5:05 remaining in the Lions' 97-81 loss to the Alaska Nanooks. Prais has seen his name at the top of the Lions’ scoring sheet ever since he first wore the Green & Gold during the 2006-07 season.  During his freshman campaign he averaged 11.7 points per game and totaled 315 points.  That performance earned him the Sunshine State Conference’s Freshman of the Year. There was no sophomore slump for Prais as he followed up his first year with another team-leading performance.  In 2007-08 he averaged 16.2 points per game while scoring a total of 470 points during the season and he was named to the All-SSC Second-Team. Click here for full article.

Expectation for the 08-09 Naughts High.
"It is not where we start," stated Coach Collins,"it is where we finish!"  With the Dreadnaught football team only two game from another championship the basketball team opened it's season with out a starter and some key players.  "We want to be good in Feb. not Nov."  Collins said. Last Friday nights basketball game with East Bay has been change because of the football play-off and this weeks game against GJ will also be re-scheduled.  Make up game with East Bay will be Monday Dec 15, JV at 6:15 and varsity at 7:45. "We have a good mix of players this year, we could be very good later in the season." Coach Collins said.  Lakelands bench could be very strong and give them some productive minutes.  The Naughts  plan on pressing and running  this year more than the previous five years. The Naughts have the quickness and depth to keep pressure on any one they play, "thirty-two minutes of ball presure is what we want." added Coach Collins. Look for the Naughts to be one of the top teams in their region this year.  Their goal is to play at the Lakeland center this March and the Dreadnaughts have the personel to mak it happen.

Collins' Dreadnaughts Are Focused on a Deep Playoff Run
By Brandt Merritt - The Ledger - Published 11/24/08
Lakeland High School is known as a football school, and for good reason. The Dreadnaughts have won six state championships, and head football coach Bill Castle was recently named the coach of the century for the state of Florida. Winning football championships, though, isn't the only thing that interests Castle. "Bill tells me his favorite sport is basketball," Dreadnaughts boys basketball coach Deron Collins said. "He's a big basketball fan." Collins has given Castle and other Dreadnaughts fans plenty to cheer about going into his sixth season at the school. Lakeland has won the district championship two of the past three seasons and advanced past the first round of the state tournament each of the past three years. Click here for full story.

Lakeland's Defense Earns a 58-33 Win
The LHS Boys Varsity Defeated Wekivia (Orlando) with a solid defensive performance. The 58-33 win capped the Josh Giles Pre-season Classic for the Naughts and gave us a good look of what is to come for the up and coming season. The Dreadnaughts start the season with District opponent Sarasota on December 3rd at Sarasota at 7:45pm. Josh Giles Classic

2008-2009 Schedule