LARGO -- Last night's sixth Largo Lions Holiday Classic final is not one either Largo or Arundel likely will remember fondly. The hosts won the sloppy affair by making key plays down the stretch, while the Falcons failed in similar situations.
Ronte Britton's baseline drive with 3:47 gave the Lions the lead for good and Terrance Clark and Shawn Johnson each came through with a pair of clutch plays in the last 1 minute, 29 seconds, as Largo surprised 13th-ranked Arundel, 62-58.
"We didn't close the game out," said Falcons coach Gerald Moore loud enough for his entire team to hear. "We made a lot of mistakes. The pressure they put on was token pressure, nothing we hadn't seen before. We got out of sync, mainly because of ourselves. We weren't adjusting to them."
Arundel (6-2) committed 14 of its 25 turnovers in the second half -- five in the final quarter.
Largo led 57-55 with 26 seconds to go when Mark Goodson missed the first of a one-and-one. Clark flew high into the lane, grabbed the rebound, came down and then went right back up to make an 8-foot jumper for a four-point advantage with 24 seconds remaining.
"I knew I had to make a big play, get a rebound and stick it back in," said Clark, who, with 17 points, led four Lions in double figures. "I've got a habit of sliding between two big people. I guess it paid off."
With Largo ahead 56-54 with 1:29 to go, Arundel's Bakari Ward had his jumper in the lane swatted away by Clark.
The Lions turned the ball right back to the Falcons, but Johnson stripped Sean Fairbanks as he tried to go up for a jumper in the lane.
Johnson's free throw after a drive at the other end put the Lions up 57-54 with 56 seconds left before Ward's foul shot returned the lead to two 11 seconds later. After Goodson missed the first of a one-and-one with 41 seconds left, Johnson swiped a rebound from Falcon Daryl Cooper with 31 seconds remaining and fed Goodson, who was fouled, setting up Clark's offensive rebound.
"I've got quick hands," said Johnson of his two late steals. "It was an on-and-off game. We've definitely got to play better. They're a good team, but they're not deep enough to play us."
Arundel made 22 of 54 field-goal attempts (.410). Largo committed 17 turnovers, but only one in the final period. The Lions connected on 19 of 50 shots (.380).
After scoring the first basket, Arundel did not lead again until Ward's two free throws put the Falcons up 45-43 with 6:34 remaining. Fourteen seconds later, Bryant Carson put Largo back ahead by one with a three-pointer, and the visitors never led again.
"We had trouble scoring. We just didn't play to our ability," said Ward, who led all scorers with 23. "We'll shake it off. We'll bounce back. They didn't do much to take us out of our game. We didn't execute."