CFCA, Apopka, Mount Dora win big
Central Florida Christian Academy and host Apopka pulled away in the second half for Saturday victories in the Earl Graham Metro vs. Florida Challenge boys basketball event.
CFCA scored 44 second half points and rolled to a 74-41 win over public school neighbor West Orange. An 11-0 run in the third quarter regained control for the Eagles, who are ranked No. 2 in Class 2A behind Orlando Christian Prep by SourceHoops.
Nick Rodriguez scored 18 points to lead CFCA, which jumped out to a 25-7 lead in the second quarter.
“Nick did a really good job getting to the rim,” Eagles coach Andrew Gustafson said. “He did a good job for us today getting to the rim and kind of setting the tone for us early.”
Class 7A West Orange played with former assistant Vincent Chance serving as interim head coach. Warriors head coach Eric Jones, in a text reply to the Sentinel, wrote: “I stepped away for personal reasons.”
West Orange closed the first half on a 16-5 run to cut the deficit to 30-25. CFCA responded with its own 20-5 run in the first 5:21 of the third quarter.
“We were missing layups in the first half,” Gustafson said. “I thought that allowed them to get back in the game. In the second half, we really executed our offense.”
Apopka won 68-50 against Lake Wales after outscoring the Highlanders 21-3 in the third quarter.
Philip Tepper led the Blue Darters with 16 points.
Other games
Three-sport athlete Reggie Virgil scored 27 points as Mount Dora Christian cruised to a 77-46 win against Horizon High.
Virgil, who scored 19 touchdowns and averaged more than 20 yards per catch for the Bulldogs’ 8-2 Sunshine State Athletic Conference runner-up team, is committed to play college football for Miami (Ohio). He was a sprinter and jumper for the MDC
track-and-field team over the past four years.
Trei Ginn scored the first basket in school history for Horizon on a layup 21 seconds in the game. Synaris Twitty and Lawson Coomes each finished with 13 points for the Hawks.
Lake Minneola staved off a late comeback attempt by Cypress Creek and won 64-61. The score was tied at 35 before the Hawks (2-1) finished the third quarter on a 13-4 run.
The Bears cut the deficit to 1 with 5.3 seconds remaining on 2 free throws from Caleb Jones-Dicks, but they could not complete the comeback. Dylan Diaz made 2 free throws for the Hawks with 2.3 seconds to go to extend their lead to 3.
Diaz led Lake Minneola with 22 points. Jones-Dicks scored 15 for the Bears.
Connor Melady had 22 points and 16 rebounds to lead Mount Dora (1-1) to a 56-44 win against first-year Lake Buena Vista. Leonardo De La Nuuez scored the first basket in school history for the Vipers with a 3-pointer 40 seconds into the game. Sammy Giles led LBV with 18 points.
Auburndale edge Ocoee 50-49 with Nehemiah Turner scoring 19 points for the Bloodhounds. Justynn Thomas and Ty Lloyd each had 10 for Ocoee.
Metro vs. Florida Challenge
At Apopka High School Friday scores Mount Dora Christian 77, Horizon 46 Lake Minneola 64, Cypress Creek 61 Central Florida Christian 74, West Orange 41 Apopka 68, Lake Wales 50 Auburndale 50, Ocoee 49 Mount Dora 56, Lake Buena Vista 44 Olympia vs Bartow, late Timber Creek vs Gainesville Buchholz, late
Saturday games
Winter Park vs. Bishop Moore, 10 a.m. Colonial vs. Eustis, 11:15 University vs. Trinity Prep, 12:45 Windermere vs. Viera, 2:30 Apopka girls vs. Windermere, 4:30 Apopka vs. Discovery Academy, 6 Oak Ridge vs. Leesburg, 7:30 Evans vs. Windermere Prep, 9