‘Energy’ lifts Mainland to easy win in TCBI final
The Daytona Beach Mainland Buccaneers invaded The City Beautiful Invitational on Wednesday night and left a champion four days later.
Mainland (11-1) used speed and athleticism to rip off the game’s first 17 points and never looked back on the way to an easy 64-45 victory against the McCallie School of Chattanooga, Tenn., in the championship game at The First Academy on Saturday. The Bucs led 34-14 at halftime.
“We preach energy, energy,” said Mainland coach Joe Giddens. “We started off with a lot of energy and confidence. Our confidence is getting better every game.”
Jordan Sears led the Bucs with a game-high 21 points. Taron Keith added 17 and Johnny Brown had 14 in the win.
“It’s great momentum for the team,” said Sears, a junior guard. “It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
In the third-place game, host TFA let the 3-point shots fly, but it wasn’t enough to stop Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna’s Toumani Camara.
A 6-foot-7 senior wing who has signed to play for the University of Georgia, Camara poured in a careerhigh 41 points, including 14 in the decisive fourth quarter, to help Chaminade hold off the Royals and win 67-61.
TFA led 59-56 with 2 minutes, 24 seconds left after Alex Shields made the fifth of his five 3-pointers. But the Lions rallied behind Camara, who had a 3-pointer and a three-point play during the game’s final 1:27.
“It was an ugly win,” Camara said. “We had a lot of ups and downs. But we played good overall.”
Chaminade’s victory overshadowed a terrific perimeter shooting performance by TFA (4-6), which made 12 3-pointers. Shields finished with 21 points. Kam Summer made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for the Royals. Kanye Jones added 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
“I thought we got really good competition all week,” said TFA coach Chris Mayberry, whose team finished 2-2 in the four-day tournament, including a 55-50 loss to McCallie in the semifinals. “We were one possession away defensively of holding the ball and making them come out and get [foul] us.”
There were two lead changes in the early going before Chaminade put together a 6-3 run to take a 10-6 lead. The Royals had no answer in the first quarter for Camara, who imposed his will inside with 12 points, staking the Lions to a 18-14 lead.
Chaminade twice stretched its lead to six points in the second quarter, but the Royals went on a 10-4 run to tie it at 28-28 with 51 seconds left. Summers and Shields each had 3-pointers during the run. The Lions got a last-second layup to go up 30-28 at halftime.
Earlier, Seffner Christian battled past Dr. Phillips in the fifth-place game. The Panthers finished 2-2 in the event.
Mike Trigg led Seffner Christian with 22 points. Abdoulaye Thiam scored 18 for DP.
During other consolation games, Windermere Prep finished a winner by beating Cape Coral Mariner 78-46 in the 15th-place game. Windermere Prep went 1-3 in the tournament.
In the 13th-place game, The Master’s Academy defeated Olympia 76-73 in a wild finish. The Eagles won their final two games after dropping the first two.
Holy Trinity Episcopal out of Melbourne overpowered Orangewood Christian 72-51 in the 11th-place game.
Boone lost to Miami SLAM Academy 58-53 in the ninth-place game to finish 2-2 in the tournament. The Braves last year finished as tourney runnerup.
In the seventh-place game, West Orange ran away from Downey Christian 85-69. The Warriors finished 2-2 in the tournament.
Montverde falls in Hawaii: National No. 1 Montverde Academy (8-1) lost 58-51 to La Lumiere Academy (11-0) of Indiana in a semifinal game at Hawaii’s Iolani Classic in Honolulu.
The loss ended a 43-game win streak for the Eagles, who finished 35-0 last season. That streak dated to a loss to La Lumiere in the championship game of the 2016-17 version of what is now known as the Geico Nationals postseason tournament.
Montverde’s loss gave Oak Ridge an opportunity to come out of the consolation bracket and take a shot at La Lumiere, which like Montverde is a boarding school playing a national schedule outside its state’s playoff system.
Because California Interscholastic Federation teams are not permitted to play teams that do not belong to a state association, like La Lumiere, the bracket for the final day of play on Saturday had to be adjusted.
Oak Ridge (11-1), which is 2-1 in the tournament, was matched against La Lumiere in one “final”. Montverde was matched against the other undefeated team in the tournament, Chatsworth, Calif., Sierra Canyon (12-0). LaMelo Ball leads Spire past West Oaks: LaMelo Ball, the younger brother of Los Angeles Laker guard Lonzo Ball, nearly had a triple-double in leading his undefeated Spire Institute team of Ohio to an 86-77 win over Orlando’s West Oaks Academy on Friday.
Ball, who played in a professional league in Lithuania and then for his father’s pro Junior Basketball Association last season, had 17 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists in the victory at the Emerald Coast 16 event in the Florida Panhandle.
LaMelo is the youngest of three sons of LeVar Ball, the blusterous CEO of the Big Baller Brand company. Due to his pro play and the fact that his father’s company markets a basketball shoe in his name (Mello Ball 1), LaMelo would likely be deemed ineligible to play for traditional high schools, but Spire does not belong to any governing body. Many college basketball analysts have stated that he is probably also ineligible for NCAA play.
Windermere Mariner 46
Master’s Olympia 73
Holy Trinity 72, Orangewood Christian 51
West Orange 85, Christian 69
Seffner Christian Phillips 59
SLAM
Boone 53
Chaminade-Madonna 67, The First Academy 61
Championship game: Mainland 64, Chattanooga (Tenn.) McCallie School 45 Prep Academy Downey 69, Academy 78, 76, Dr. 58, Tickets: Parking: Children: