Feburary 5

Forget Glendale, Arizona and that festival of commercials interrupted by a football game this weekend. The place to be was Montverde Academy for the 5th annual Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament. Eight teams put in three days worth a quality hoops. While it was disappointing the find out the fire marshall wasn’t really cool with the second level of bleachers that were put in for the event last season, it didn’t detract from the great atmosphere that Head Master Kasey Kesselring and Coach Kevin Sutton have brought to Central Florida at the end of the regular season.

The first game of the final day pitted Miami's Monsignor Pace against Clermont South Lake. We must admit we were surprised to see the Spartans playing for seventh place, but their tough schedule will only make them better come playoff time.

Monsignor Pace jumped out to a 22-17 lead after one quarter but South Lake played the Spartans even in the second and were only down five, 45-40 at the break. In the third quarter, Pace outscored South Lake by ten (24-14) and then by 7 (18-11) in the final quarter. While the final score of 87-65 might seem like a blowout, it was closer than the score indicated.

Ray Shipman led the way for Pace with a flashy 29 points, many coming on dunks in transition after South Lake turnovers. Junior Rakeem Buckles added 17 points, most of those coming inside. He and senior Terrance Santil combined to keep South Lake out of the lane. If they weren’t swatting shots into the stands, they certainly changed a bunch.

For South Lake, junior Ray Noel pumped in 18 points. The athletic southpaw was quite proficient from long range and in transition but he needs to improve his ball-handling. 5’9 junior guard Lamar Laing backed him up to the tune of 16 points. He did a lot of his damage getting to the rim and either drawing contact while finishing or pulling up for mid-range jumpers.

The fifth-place game featured Rufus King out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and West Lake Prep out of Davie. Interesting factoid: WestLake Prep has lost to Arlington Country Day twice in the span of ten days but in that same period of time they have beaten Pace twice.

Rufus King jumped on West Lake early and after one quarter, King lead 22-9 as they made five three-point shots in the quarter. WestLake stayed even with King in the second quarter with each team scoring eleven points and at the half King was ahead 33-20. In the second half, King let the air out of the ball and pretty much played keep away for both the third and fourth quarters. WestLake couldn’t get enough touches to catch up and ultimately went down swinging, 53-37.

While David Loubeau was surrounded for pretty much the entire game, he still led the way for WestLake with twelve points. He has some solid post moves around the basket and is starting to show the ability to put the ball on the floor from the perimeter and finish at the basket or pull up for a jumper. 6’10 junior C Guillaume Sabour has improved quite a bit since we saw him at the ASIC. He was very active on the glass and changed a lot of shots around the rim. He is raw, but there is a lot of potential there. Senior center Frank Barnes did not play the final day due to disciplinary reasons.

The host team Montverde Academy was defeated on a buzzer beater by Dr. Phillips in the semi-finals, putting the Eagles in the third-place game. They met up with Lafayette, LA Northside. It was one of those classic battles where size takes on speed.

In this case, size took an early lead and speed never caught up. Montverde’s Dashan Harris had five of the team’s eleven points in the quarter and the host lead 11- 4. Northside recovered in the second quarter, keeping pace with Montverde, scoring 17 points to Montverde’s 18, and with a half-time score of 29-21 it was realistically anybody’s ball game.

Montverde was only able to outscore Northside 17 to 15 in the third quarter. But then back up point guard Dmetri Zimin erupted. He knocked down three shots behind the arc in succession and Northside was never able to recover. The Eagles outscored them 15-7 in the final stanza to win 61-43.

Only five players scored for Academy, but each scored in double figures. Zimin led the way with 16 points, followed by Marcus Capers with 14, many of them on crushing dunks! 6’10 junior center Ruslan Pateev put in 11 points and he was just too big inside once he established position. Dashan Harris and Femi Akinpetide each scored ten points. Harris as usual led the way on defense while Femi was snatching virtually every rebound in sight.

In the title game, it was some what of a surprise to see Dr. Phillips and Arlington Country Day take the court. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Phillips knocked off Montverde with a buzzer beating three pointer by junior point guard Chuck Ford in the semi-finals. Arlington Country Day was a last minute addition, stepping in when the Alabama HSAA said Mobile LeFlore had already played their alottment of tournments for the year. Either way, two of the better teams in Florida went head-to-head for the title.

This game was close from the start. Ford continued his stellar play, scoring 6 of Doctor Phillipss 17 first quarter points. For Arlington Country Day, junior big man Wally Judge was getting it done inside as he scored 6 of Arlington Country Days 16 points. In the 2nd quarter, senior wing R.J. Wright stepped up with six points, all in transition, for Arlington Country Day. Dr. Phillips spread out their scoring in the second quarter. After one half of play, we were pretty much where we started as the score was tied at 29 all.

The third quarter didn’t decide anything either. Both teams scored 18 points in the third. Justin Watkins had 8 of those for Dr. Phillips while R.J. Wright continued to score on the break. He had 8 points as well in the quarter. It all came down to the fourth quarter. At that point, Wally Judge took over inside on both ends. Down 61-60 with only 4 seconds left, Ford tried to duplicate his efforts from the previous night but to no avail. The Apaches are the 2007 Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament champions, 61-60, over Dr. Phillips.

For Dr. Phillips, Ford led the way with 20 points. As he goes, so goes the Panthers. Senior Justin Watkins backed him up with 17 points. It is amazing what he can do against bigger players. Dr. Phillips is going to be a tough out come districts.

For Arlington Country Day, R.J. Wright led the way with 22 points. All of them seemingly came in transition after turnovers or on drives to the hoop. Wally Judge followed up with 18 points. He is definitely the most athletic big man in the 2009 class in Florida. Sophomore James Bell played well, knocking in 14 points. His mid-range jumper off the glass from fifteen feet was a pleasure to see.

The All-Tournament Team

• Devon Jackson, Rufus King
• Jordan Fuselier, Northside
• Marcus Capers, Montverde Academy
• Dashan Harris, Montverde Academy
• Justin Watkins, Doctor Phillips
• Wally Judge, Arlington Country Day
• Tourney MOP - R.J. Wright, Arlington Country Day
• Tourney MVP - Chuck Ford, Doctor Phillips