Two in a row!

BROOKSVILLE - Central High finally has a good streak going. The Bears have had more bad ones recently than anyone on their bench would care to remember.

But on Tuesday at the Michael A. Imhoff Gymnasium, the Bears did something they hadn't done in two seasons: win back-to-back games.

Central captured a sloppy match-up with winless Hernando High, 43-32, following last Friday's 50-40 triumph over River Ridge High, led by former Bear Head Coach John Sedlack.

Sedlack was still roaming the Central (2-5 overall, 1-0 Hernando County Athletic Conference) sideline the last time the Bears won two straight, Jan, 31 and Feb. 2, 2006 over Hernando Christian Academy and Crystal River High.

Also, Central matched its win total from the last season's 2-22 campaign, the first under Head Coach Eric Hayes. One of last season's wins also came against Hernando (0-8 overall, 0-2 HCAC).

"We're pleased to have the win but we have a lot of work to do," Hayes said. "We have a lot of work especially dealing with patience on the offensive end. If we had patience the outcome would not be as close as it was.

"It's a sign of progress. Last year we played an ugly game here (a 50-41 loss). We came up on the short end of the stick. Tonight was an ugly win rather than an ugly loss."

Control from start

The Bears led almost the entire way, getting ahead by double digits for the first time at the 5:30 mark of the second quarter, when Barrett Sheffield hit the team's lone three-pointer, 17-7.

The lead reached 31-19 in the third quarter before the Leopards rallied to score the final seven points of that period and pulled to within 31-28 on Nate Howell's basket early in the fourth.

Central stopped the bleeding from there, going ahead 39-28 as Joseph Lula knocked down a bank shot with 2:28 remaining.

Junior Darryn Frazier, averaging 22.3 points per game coming in as he attempts to defend his 2006-07 county scoring crown, had a relatively quiet night offensively with 17 points, but added 10 rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots.

"It feels good (to win two straight). I think we have to keep it going through the whole week," Frazier said.