Mario Leflore (4) shoots in traffic when his Southeast Lauderdale team took on Lake at home on Tuesday.

Southeast Lauderdale’s boys and girls basketball teams took on Lake at home on Tuesday night. Both Tigers squads picked up victories and will look to build on their midseason wins when they play again on Dec. 28.

First-year girls coach Tyus Harden, who previously coached at Newton and Hattiesburg, led his squad to a 49-31 victory over Lake to even the team’s record at 5-5. Lake cut into Southeast Lauderdale’s lead throughout much of the fourth quarter, but a last-minute scoring barrage sealed the win for the Tigers.

“We’re young, so we’re trying to find our identity,” Harden said on the win. “We’re young, and I’m a new coach as well, so I’m trying to figure them out, they’re trying to figure me out. They’re young, they haven’t played before, so it’s a learning process. We did a lot better tonight with finishing and completing the game.”

Harden’s starting lineup, which features a senior, a junior and three sophomores, is young. The coach said his team is not racing to be good right now. Instead, they are building to be good in the postseason.

“We’ve played a pretty tough schedule, so I think it’s going to prepare us for district,” Harden said. “Our goal is to be 10-0 in district and play for the district championship.”

Harden is working to rebuild Southeast Lauderdale’s championship-winning culture, which he said has been a challenge. He said he wants to grow the love for basketball in the Southeast Lauderdale community, and he wants to see Southeast Lauderdale’s girls program return to its winning ways.

“We have to get better at (maintaining) a lead,” Harden said. “A lot of times we come back out in the second half and we get cold, and they’re just not used to finishing a game, but once they get used to finishing a game we’ll be fine. So, right now we’re just trying to work on keeping the intensity.”

Southeast Lauderdale’s boys team, coming off an appearance in the Class 3A state title game last season, bounced back from a 1-4 start to a 5-5 record after beating Lake 59-34. While not as young and inexperienced as the girls squad, Southeast’s boys squad is a young team, and boys coach Centel Truman said his young players need to realize that “every game they play is somebody else’s state championship” after their slow start in Tuesday’s game.

“(Lake) came with a different kind of fight, a different kind of moxie, so we’ve got to stop having bad first quarters,” Truman said. “We’ve been starting off slow the last few games in the first quarter, and we’ve been good enough to come back and win, but to get back to where we want to get back to you’ve got to start off fast.”

Southeast Lauderdale seniors Elliot Tulip, Xavier Butler and Omarion McCann all see significant playing time, and junior Mario Leflore brings more experience to the starting lineup. Truman said Butler is a more energetic leader, whereas McCann and Tulip lead by example, but he values having different types of leaders on his team.

“On great teams you’ve got to have that mixture of both,” Truman said. “Different kids follow different ways. So, those three guys are hungry, and they want to leave behind a legacy as the other seniors did.”

Leflore is an athletic forward that adds height to a Southeast Lauderdale squad that lost two tall centers from last year’s squad. Truman said Leflore is doing a phenomenal job of buying into his role as a lockdown defender, scorer and rebounder.

Southeast’s starters filtered in and out of the game to help the Tigers maintain a lead over Lake, but Truman was able to give much of his bench playing time in the lopsided victory. He said that is particularly important with a young group.

“We had a chance to get some guys in early, even in quality minutes,” Truman said. “This year we’ve been playing a lot of people because we’re trying to figure out ourselves who can do what in certain situations. This helps myself and coach (Jordan) Payne figure out who to put in those moments so that when that moment comes they’ll be prepared for it.”

The Tigers have won three straight after beating Magee and Newton County last week. Truman’s Tigers are always hunting for a trophy, and they have their eyes set on next week’s Sam Dale Tournament.

“Our goal is to win everything with a trophy in it,” Truman said. “Next game is the Sam Dale Tournament, which has a trophy in it. Next is the district tournament, trophy in it. Then you get to the state playoffs, which leads you to a trophy. So, now our goals are in front of us, so I think they’re hungry.”