Montverde tourney tips
Montverde Academy’s national No. 1 boys basketball team is likely to take on another juggernaut program in the final of its own tournament this weekend.
Findlay Prep of Nevada was rated second behind Montverde when identified the nation’s most successful programs of this decade — based on its final national rankings since the 2010-11 season.
Montverde (25-0), declared national champion three times in the past five years, plays the other Central Florida entry, Sentinel Super 16 No. 3 Villages Charter, in today’s first round of the 15th annual Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament. The Eagles are a heavy favorite to advance to Saturday night’s final.
Findlay (23-2), which is ranked No. 4 nationally by FloHoops, has another current top 10 team, Shadow Mountain (15-0) of Arizona, in its half of the bracket. Those teams are lined up to meet in a Friday semifinal if both win today.
Montverde has four seniors listed in the top 52 of the ESPN 100 player rankings, with 6-foot-7 Duke recruit topping the list. UF signee is No. 30, former Oak Ridge star
(Georgia Tech) No. 41 and Gonzagabound forward No. 52.
Findlay Prep has just one top 100 senior, but he’s a big name and a big guy. son of the late NBA skyscraper
is No. 4 on the ESPN Class of 2018. “If he gets the ball within four feet of the rim he’s just going to turn and dunk on you,” Montverde coach said.
Shadow Mountain, a reigning state title team coached by former NBA guard
is averaging 92.3 points per game. Three other teams in the field — Fort Lauderdale Westminster, Miami Christian and Madison Prep of Louisiana — were state champions last season.
The Dr. Phillips girls soccer team set a program record for wins in a season Wednesday while securing a spot in the Class 5A region tournament.
The Panthers, ranked No. 6 in the Sentinel Super Six and the top seed in Class 5A, District 4, improved to 17-1-1 with a 2-0 district semifinal win over West Orange.
First-year Windermere High (13-3-1) also will advance to region play after winning 2-1 over Lake Minneola.
The Wolverines, who wrapped up the No. 2 seed in 4A-5 despite fielding a team without seniors, got a goal and an assist from and a goal from
in the win. Mount Dora qualified for regionals for the first time since 2012 with an 8-3 semifinal win vs. Ocala Trinity in a 2A-6.
The Hurricanes (11-5-1) are playing for a district title Friday under first-year coach
lone goal off an assist from in Lake Mary’s 1-0 semifinal win over Seminole in 5A-3. The Rams improved to 14-2-0.
scored
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Dr. Phillips (12-6) guard celebrated Senior Night with a 32-point performance in a 73-58 victory over visiting Evans on Tuesday night. That pushed the prolific lefty to another scoring plateau with 1,308 career points. He’s in the DP all-time top five, trailing only
(1,784),
(1,633), (1,539) and (1,361). Love is averaging 21.2 points per game.
Boone (10-9) is 2-0 since getting senior leader back from a hand injury. He had 10 points and nine assists in a win over Timber Creek last week and 14 points Tuesday night as the Braves dealt Orlando University (16-5) its first 9A-4 loss, 62-57. The Cougars had already clinched the No. 1 seed for the district tournament.
Osceola (15-5) takes a 5-0 district record into a 9A-7 road game at Kissimmee rival Gateway (13-3, 4-2) tonight. The Kowboys topped Gateway 55-46 in December game.
Master’s Academy (13-5, 4-0) is alone atop the 4A-3 standings following a 68-53 win over Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic.
Apopka (10-8), winners of three in a row going into Friday night’s game at rival Wekiva, leads 9A-3 with a 3-1 district record. On its heels are Wekiva and West Orange, both 2-2.