Montverde overpowers Madison
R.J. Barrett scored 25 points, Michael DeVoe added 18 and top-ranked Montverde Academy crushed Baton Rouge (La.) Madison Prep 88-57 in a Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament semifinal.
Friday night’s victory sends the Eagles (26-0), the consensus national No. 1 team, to a tourney championship matchup against Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep.
The Pilots (24-2) held off previously unbeaten Shadow Mountain of Phoenix, Ariz., 83-74.
Montverde and Findlay, both perennial powers, have split their past six matchups, with Montverde winning the past two.
The Eagles attacked Madison Prep (17-6) in waves. DeVoe, a Georgia Tech signee, led the first surge, hitting three 3-pointers as Monverde opened the game on a 10-0 run.
Barrett, a Duke signee, led the second wave from the free-throw line, making 10 of 11 foul shots in the first half.
Kobe Julien, a Louisiana-Lafayette signee, tried to keep the Chargers in the game, scoring 12 first-half points.
Montverde’s Filip Petrusev, a 6-foort-11 Gonzaga signee, punished Madison Prep with blocked shots, rebounds and several dunks. He even sprinkled in a third quarter 3-pointer. Petrusev finished with 15 points. Karrington Davis added 10 points in the win.
In a consolation game, junior guard Tre Mann scored 32 points for Villages Charter (15-4) but the Buffalo lost to Miami Christian 92-61.
Lake Highland Prep got big plays at both ends of the floor from Bryton Belvin and two crucial free throws by Jasen West in the stretch run, but its margin of victory in a big 67-66 road win over The First Academy turned out to be a scorekeeping error.
Both team’s scorebooks had the game ending in a 66-66 tie after TFA’s Elwood Tomlinson made a 3-point shot at the buzzer.
Lake Highland (17-6) improved to 4-1 in 5A, District 6 and will be the second seed behind Windermere Prep (11-1, 4-1) for the district tournament, starting Feb. 13, at Trinity Prep. The top two seeds get first round byes.
“This was huge,” first-year Highlanders coach Ben Fratrik said. “To go on the road and find a way.”
TFA (12-10), which would have been the one seed with a win, drops to No. 4 behind Jones.
“It was a factor because we went from down one to down three,” First Academy coach Chris Mayberry said of the confusion, which led to an official’s timeout and a scoring change with 3:46 to go. “It’s OK. It will all work itself out. We’ve just got to get better in the next two weeks.”
Nick Honor, a new member of the career 2,000-point club, scored 20 and West contributed 17 for Lake Highland, which made 20 of 21 free throw attempts as a team.
Tomlinson led all scorers with 22 points for TFA.
Windermere Prep (11-11, 4-1) lost to TFA and beat Lake Highland.
Edgewater fought off a late comeback try by Dr. Phillips to post a 66-63 road win over the Panthers.
DP (12-7) was down by 10 with just over three minutes to go but went on a 12-5 run and had an open look to send the game into overtime. Rakeem Perry’s 3-point attempt missed off the front rim and the Eagles (15-4) escaped with the victory.
Michael Eads led Edgewater with 12 points. Dante Love led DP with 22 points. His brother, Daniel Love, scored 16 but was saddled with three first-quarter fouls.
A matchup of defending state boys basketball champs Leesburg (18-1) and Orlando Christian Prep (12-8) did not happen Friday. It was on OCP’s schedule as a home game but Leesburg coach Sean Campbell said the schools never could agree on who would host.
Leesburg is No. 1 in 6A and OCP No. 1 in 3A in state rankings generated by the Sentinel and SourceHoops.com. Oak Ridge is No. 1 and defending state champion Osceola No. 2 in the 9A top ten. CFCA is rated No. 3 in 2A and Bishop Moore and Mount Dora Christian are also state-ranked.
Oak Ridge forward Emmitt Williams committed to LSU on Friday, becoming the fourth member of the 9A No. 1-ranked team to select a major college.