City of Palms: Championship

The 40^th annual City of Palms championship featured two of the top teams in the country Saturday night at Bishop Verot High School. Lone Peak came into the championship game 3-0 in the tournament having defeated their opponents by an average of 19 points per game. Despite this margin of victory and their three future D-1 players, the championship game more closely resembled the battle of David and Goliath, with Montverde playing the role of Goliath. Montverde had the edge in athleticism with their four high major Division 1 starters, but this advantage had not stopped Lone Peak before. The close to capacity crowd backed Lone Peak in its previous games and was ready to see the public school from Utah take on the private academy from Florida.

Game of the Night:

#4 Montverde 66 #7 Lone Peak 45

As mentioned in the Day 4 recap, the keys to this game were going to be how Lone Peak dealt with the size of Montverde and how they handled their pressure. While Lone Peak previously carved up any type of trapping press that other teams had thrown at them, Montverde went for the full-court man-to-man pressure as their guards had the length and quickness to frustrate the star duo of Nick Emery and TJ Haws. In addition, Montverde featured PF Devin Williams (6’8” 230) as Lone Peak’s PF; Talon Shumway stood 6’4” 200. 

Montverde came out of the gates firing on all cylinders with senior guard Miguel Cartegena and junior guard D ‘Angelo Russell knocking down three’s and Williams dominating down low. On the defensive side it was almost impossible for Lone Peak to get a clean shot in the lane with Dakari Johnson and Williams patrolling the paint and the long arms of Russell made it hard for sharp shooter TJ Haws to get an open look. Lone Peak miss-fired on countless three point attempts and fell behind 22-12 after the first quarter and 39-22 at the half. Russell led the way with 13 points and the big 3 BYU trio of Haws, Emery, and big man Eric Mika only scored 13 points combined.

Despite their struggles in the first half, Lone Peak came out aggressive and angry in the 2^nd half. Coach Quincy Lewis ran a set play for Haws which resulted in a picture perfect three point swish. Lone Peak turned the pressure up on defense and swarmed Johnson and Williams any time they touched the ball resulting in numerous turnovers. Lone Peak held Montverde to only four points in the 3^rd quarter, but could only muster 10 themselves trimming a 17 point lead to an 11 point lead entering the 4^th. Once the final quarter began, the Montverde sized played a deciding factor. Both Williams and Johnson finished with double doubles and Lone Peak struggled to get open looks. Star guard Kasey Hill was quite on the offensive end for Montverde but finished off Lone Peak with a steal and two hand reverse jam that got the Florida faithful out of its seat.

Williams finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds on 6-8 shooting while Dakari Johnson had 10 points and 11 rebounds. TJ Haws was the high scorer with 21 points, but needed 19 shots to do it. Emery was held to 8 points and Mika was held to 5 points on six shots. Montverde utilized its size and athletic advantages to ensure that David did not pull the upset of Goliath in the 40^th City of Palms championship game.

Top Performer:

D ‘Angelo Russell: 15 points, 3 steals

Russell had a quiet semi-final game with 4 points, but made his mark early in the championship game. Russell went 3-3 from the three point line in the first half knocking down corner threes from both sides of the court. He also added two impressive drives to the basket. As mentioned earlier, Russell also drew the defensive assignment of TJ Haws, who scored the second most points in the tournament. With his long arms and quick feet, Russell contested every jump shot Haws took. Russell dominated both the offensive and defensive sides of the court in the first half and was a key reason Montverde jumped out to a 17 point lead. 

Breakout Performer:

Miles Reynolds, Whitney Young (6’3” Junior Guard)

With the transfer of guard L.J. Peak to the Whitney Young Dolphins this year, most people have referred to Whitney Young as having a junior led trio of Jahlil Okafor, Paul Young, and L.J. Peak. Now, it will have to be called the Big Four. Junior guard Miles Reynolds made a name for himself in a 3-day stretch. He started off the tournament scoring a team high 18 points against Montverde including three free throws to send the game into overtime. In his second game against a tough and athletic Omaha squad, Reynolds went for 15 points on 5-6 shooting and was a perfect 3-3 from the three point line. In his final game of the tournament against Chester, Reynolds scored 17 points in the first half going 3-4 from the 3-point line.

Overall, Reynolds finished the tournament shooting 79% from the field and 72% from the three point line. This hot shooting came against teams that are all ranked in the top 15 nationally as well. Not only can Reynolds shoot the ball, but he also can slash to the basket with his speed and quickness. Reynolds caught the eye of LSU on Thursday and picked up an offer from them. Expect more offers to be coming soon.

Other Notes:

Long Beach Poly defeated Southwind (TN) to take home 3^rd place. Senior forward Jordan Bell led the way for Poly as he had 20 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks. Jajuan Johnson led the way for Southwind with 23 points but needed 24 shots.

Huntington Prep easily took home the Signature Series championship over Arlington County Day with a 74-57 victory. Andrew Wiggins, the #1 player in the country went for a cool 20 points, but this was not one of his finer games. Instead it was big man Moses Kingsley who did the most damage to Arlington County Day on 11-14 shooting for 26 points.

Junior, Guard / Forward Justin Jackson scored over half his team’s points (28) in a loss to Kiski. Jackson has his floater game down pat and scored many of his points with shots in the paint.

Whitney Young dominated Chester in the 5^th place game to hand Chester its 2^nd loss of the tournament.

Paul VI dominated Callaway 50-34 in the 9am game and frustrated star sophomore guard Malik Newman all day long. Newman went 1-8 from the three point line as Paul VI hounded him all day long. Big man Quadree Smith scored 16 points to lead the way for Paul VI.