LANCASTER HOLDS ON FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT LANCASTER 70, VALENCIA 68.

Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Teddy Myers walked off the court a hero.

After missing a free throw in the closing seconds and his Lancaster teammates holding a two-point lead over Valencia, Myers came back to block a last-second 3-point field goal try by Will Broadus to preserve a 70-68 victory for the Eagles.

``We're getting better as the games progress, but we haven't clicked to our best game yet,'' said Myers, who scored a game-high 22 points as the Eagles (4-1) got their fourth consecutive victory, - the school's longest winning streak in three years.

Aaron James scored 11 points and Steve Thornton added 10 for Lancaster.

``It's a good win for us because Valencia always plays tough,'' Lancaster coach Travis Brown said. ``They played man-to-man defense well, they changed up their defense on us well, we reacted as best we could.''

Albert Ingram had 17 points for Valencia. Ingram, who normally plays off-guard or small forward, had to play point guard in place of Alex Dunwoody and Louie Martinez, both sidelined with the flu.

But it wasn't easy for Valencia.

Broadus scored 10 points despite playing with a hamstring injury he suffered playing football, and Lewis Pettway, the Vikings starting center, saw limited action as a result of a knee injury.

``We gave it our best and we had a chance at the end,'' said Valencia coach Rocket Collins.

``Before the game, I said I'd like to see us play with everybody healthy, but we'll be allright.''

The Eagles trailed 65-63 in the closing minutes when unheralded Jason Samuel hit a 3-pointer that gave Lancaster a lead it would not relinquish.

``He doesn't get a lot of minutes, but he stepped up and he did well forus,'' Brown said of Samuel. ``For somebody like that to come off the bench and hit a big shot and take care of the ball and play aggressive defense, that's a bonus.''

James made two free throws with less than two minutes remaining to extend Lancaster's lead to 68-65, but Mike Suby's basket closed the Vikings to within 68-67. Jeremy Linebager made one of two free throws to tie the game at 68-68.

Anthony Gamboa's layup with less than a minute left turned out to be the difference for Lancaster.

``I liked that we're playing with more aggressiveness, but we're losing in the heart category right now,'' said Brown. ``We've got guys that are doubting some things about themselves or about the team, and that's something we've got to nip in the bud quick.

``We have a lot of little things we need to work on. Details matter.''