LEESBURG -- The Long County Blue Tide boys basketball team is quickly establishing themselves as one of the best teams in the state and they showed that by competing well at the Lee County Roundball Classic Tournament to close out 2025.

They were in the red bracket and their run started with a matchup against Worth County on Monday, December 29. They never really struggled with the Rams, beating them 87-42 and having four players score in double digits. Jy’son Mallard lead the way with 22 points.

They took on Auburndale, a team out of Florida, in the second round and had little trouble with the Blood Hounds, winning 60-48 with Mallard leading the way again, hitting four 3-point shots and scoring 20 points.

This led to a AAA showdown against the Monroe Tornadoes in the championship round on Wednesday and the game was as good as advertised.

n this game that is potentially a preview of a state playoff game, the Tide and Tornadoes went back and forth with the Tornadoes claiming a 50-49 win.

After shooting 4-of-10 from 3-point range in the first quarter and taking a 14-12 lead, the Tide shied away from the long ball in the second quarter.

Mallard converted a three-point play to put the Tide up 22-20 late in the half. However, the Tornadoes took a 24-23 at the half.

In the first 4:30 of the third quarter, there were five lead changes, with the Tide taking a 33-32 lead on Ja’mere Martin’s second made 3 of the quarter. This helped spark an 8-0 run that included a third Martin 3 and one from Kelvin Hayes.

The Tide led 39-32 late in the third but the Tornadoes closed on a 5-0 run to trail by just two points going into the fourth.

The Tornadoes took their first lead since the midway point of the third quarter as they went up 43-41, capping off an 11-2 run to take the lead.

Zyi’Air Holt’s three-point play tied the game 47-47 with 2:25 left before he found Jonathan Talbert to take the 49-47 lead with 1:40 left.

The Tornadoes took the lead with 18 seconds left as they connected on a layup while being fouled for the final points.

The Tide’s win streak comes to an end at 10 games as they are now 11-2 on the year. This was their longest win streak since the 2019-20 season.