LANCASTER – Lancaster coach Ferrin Douglas wasn't expecting a cake walk against Red Oak. The Hawks entered the game riding a four-game district winning streak.

So when the fourth quarter started, Douglas stressed to his players how important a strong defensive effort was in order to seal a victory and stay undefeated in District 15-4A.

Lancaster, the No. 1 team in SportsDay's 4A area poll, picked up its 20th win with an 85-75 victory over Red Oak on Tuesday night. Lancaster (20-4, 9-0) used its defensive play to turn a one-point lead starting the fourth into lead into a double-digit victory.

Lancaster outscored Red Oak, 23-14, in the fourth quarter.

"We just had to make sure we were talking on defense. We weren't communicating," Douglas said. "Red Oak's won four in a row. They're fighting for their playoff lives, so we knew we'd be in a dogfight."

Lancaster held Red Oak (12-14, 4-4) without a field goal in the final period until the 3:17 mark, when Jimmy Granzow's basket trimmed Lancaster's lead to 68-63. Lancaster outscored Red Oak, 8-3, in the final 90 seconds to pull away.

Free throw shooting haunted Red Oak in the fourth quarter. The team made only 3 of 8.

Jacolby Anderson led Lancaster, scoring seven of his game-high 22 points in the fourth. Daniel Skinner had a big game, finishing with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Lancaster also held the district's leading scorer, Red Oak guard Melvin Johnson, to 14 points. Johnson was averaging 20.8 points per game. Justin Bryan, however, picked up the scoring for Red Oak. He had 24 points and connected on six 3-pointers.

"We knew Melvin was one of the better shooters in the area, and we just had to step up," Douglas said.