Max Williams had a once-in-a-lifetime shot and experience Tuesday in front of his home crowd. The senior hit a 10-foot shot at the buzzer to lift Bishop Verot over St. Thomas Aquinas, 49-48, in the City of Palms Classic.
“I never felt that before,” Williams said. “They haven’t won a first-round game here in forever. It’s a great feeling to hit the game-winning shot.”
Bishop Verot hadn’t won a first-round game in the tournament since a 1979 win over North Fort Myers.
The Vikings trailed St. Thomas Aquinas, 48-47, with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Vikings ran the clock down for the last shot but Mason Taylor couldn’t get open. The senior kicked the ball out to the 6-foot-2 Williams who nailed a 10-foot jump shot as the clock expired.
“I saw Mason was triple-teamed so I knew I had to shoot it because I was wide open,” Williams said. “I was pretty excited. I saw the ball coming to me so I just shot it, and it went in.”
The Vikings defeated Philadelphia Constitution, 78-75, last year in the consolation round, which snapped their streak of 32 winless years in the City of Palms tournament.
Bishop Verot will face the No. 2 team in the nation, Orlando-Montverde Academy, this afternoon at 4:15.
Bishop Verot played without 6-foot-8 Ricky Doyle, who is ranked No. 11 in Florida’s Class of 2014 by ESPN, due to a stress fracture in his foot. With Doyle out, the Vikings turned to Taylor, who led the team in scoring with 24. Williams finished with 12 points.
“After being around the City of Palms for so long, we’ve gotten beat every which way,” Vikings head coach Matt Herting said. “But hey, we’re on a two-game win streak at the City of Palms. That’s pretty good considering we’ve had about a 33-year drought.”
Time: 7:51 pm City, State:
VISITOR: St. Thomas Aquinas ( )
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
NO PLAYER P FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO BK S MIN
5 Ndiaye, Papa * 0 6 0 4 2 2 1 0 1 2 2 0 2 0 0 22:39
10 Downes, Sean * 3 4 3 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 9 5 2 0 0 23:06
11 Umude, Sidney * 4 9 0 0 0 0 2 5 7 1 8 1 1 0 1 25:09
24 Haney Jr., Steven * 7 15 2 8 2 3 0 2 2 2 18 5 0 1 1 29:25
40 Hunter, John * 5 7 0 0 1 5 3 4 7 2 11 0 1 1 1 25:23
3 Maturah, Matt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 1 17:31
12 Palvo, Austin 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6:51
20 Castro, Brandon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0:00
30 Powell, Ian 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4:23
32 Harvey III, Eugene 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 2 0 1 1 1 0 5:33
TEAM REBOUNDS 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 19 45 5 17 5 10 7 14 21 15 48 13 9 3 4 160
Total FG% - 1st: 10/24 0.417 2nd: 9/21 0.429 Game: 0.422 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 2/8 0.250 2nd: 3/9 0.333 Game: 0.294 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 5/5 1.000 2nd: 0/5 0.000 Game: 0.500 (3,3)
HOME: Bishop Verot ( )
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
NO PLAYER P FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OFF DEF TOT PF TP A TO BK S MIN
10 Fundingsland, Mitchel* 3 8 1 5 0 0 0 2 2 2 7 2 2 0 0 25:44
12 Taylor, Mason * 7 16 2 5 8 8 3 10 13 3 24 3 3 2 1 32:00
14 Baker, Brian * 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 15:49
30 Williams, Max * 5 8 0 0 2 5 2 1 3 1 12 1 3 0 0 32:00
33 Labreche, Luke * 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 19:18
3 Schell, Logan 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 17:45
20 Kavanagh, Jack 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3:31
40 Kavanagh, Quinn 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 10:40
45 Homolka, Nick 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3:13
TEAM REBOUNDS 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 17 37 3 11 12 19 7 14 21 10 49 6 10 2 3 160
Total FG% - 1st: 8/21 0.381 2nd: 9/16 0.563 Game: 0.459 Deadball
3-PT FG% - 1st: 2/9 0.222 2nd: 1/2 0.500 Game: 0.273 Rebounds
Total FT% - 1st: 2/3 0.667 2nd: 10/16 0.625 Game: 0.632 (3,7)
Technical Fouls: STA (0)
: VEROT (0)
OFFICIALS :
ATTENDANCE : 0
SCORE BY PERIODS 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
St. Thomas Aquinas 16 11 9 12 48
Bishop Verot 8 12 17 12 49
Last FG: St. Thomas Aquinas 4th-00:34, Bishop Verot 4th-00:13
Largest lead: St. Thomas Aquinas by 12 2nd-07:14, Bishop Verot by 4 4th-04:27
Score tied: 4 times, Lead changed: 5 times
2012 CITY OF PALMS CLASSIC
Day 5
- City of Palms Prep basketball: Mighty Montverde manhandles Lone Peak for title
- City of Palms prep basketball: From Agau's Waffle House tweet to Verot buzzer beater
- City of Palms prep basketball: No. 1 player Andrew Wiggins wows, Huntington Prep rolls
- City of Palms prep basketball: Fairfax (Va.) beats Callaway for consolation championship
- City of Palms prep basketball: Chicago-Whitney Young drops Chester (Pa.) in fifth-place game
Day 4
- Photos: City of Palms Classic: Day 4
- Photos: Montverde Academy Basketball
- City of Palms: Slam Dunk Contest
- City of Palms: Lone Peak (Utah) 67, Memphis Southwind 52
- City of Palms prep basketball: Highland (Utah) Lone Peak stars win dunk, 3-point contests
- City of Palms prep basketball: Community School falls to North Florida Educational Institute
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Montverde bashes Long Beach Poly to get into finals
- City of Palms Prep basketball: A No. 1 showdown between Lone Peak and Montverde for title
- City of Palms prep basketball: Never too young to recruit, even 6th graders get ranked
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Okafor, Chicago-Whitney Young edge Omaha Central
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Chester (Pa.) starts new streak with win over Lake Wales
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: St. Thomas Aquinas defeats defending champs Prestonwood Christian
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: McDonough (Ga.) Eagle’s Landing bests Bishop Verot
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Newman leads Callaway over Tift County
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Derrikson paces Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI past Lake Highland
Day 3
- Photos: City of Palms Classic: Day 3
- Video: City of Palms: Monteverde Academy 68, Chicago-Whitney Young 63
- Video: City of Palms: Memphis Southwind 88, Lake Wales 70
- Video: City of Palms: Huntington Prep (W.Va) 77, Houston-HCYA 50
- Video: City of Palms: Lone Peak (Utah) 73, Chester (Pa.) 50
- City of Palms prep basketball: Montverde clips Chicago Whitney Young in OT
- City of Palms prep basketball: Memphis-Southwind blows into semifinals
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: No. 1 player Wiggins leads Huntington Prep to easy win
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI escapes with 1-point win over Prestonwood Christian
- City of Palms prep basketball: Lone Peak cracks Chester's 61-game winning streak
- City of Palms prep basketball: Jacksonville-Arlington Country Day defeats Saltsburg (Pa.)-Kiski School
- City of Palms prep basketball: Jackson (Miss.)-Callaway comes out on top against St. Thomas Aquinas
- City of Palms prep basketball: Orlando-Lake Highland Prep tops Bishop Verot
Day 2
- Photos: City of Palms Classic - Day Two
- Video: City of Palms: Long Beach Poly (Ca.) 52, Omaha Central (Neb.) 49
- Video: City of Palms: Monteverde Academy 79, Bishop Verot 35
- Video: City of Palms: Memphis Southwind (Tenn.) 82, Prestonwood Christian (Tx.) 44
- City of Palms Prep Basketball: Lake Wales upsets Fairfax- Paul VI
- City of Palms prep basketball: Highland (Utah) Lone Peak rolls over Jackson (Miss.) Callaway
- City of Palms prep basketball: Long Beach Poly ends Omaha Central's 41-game win streak at buzzer
- City of Palms prep basketball: Dakari Johnson, Montverde crush Bishop Verot
- City of Palms prep basketball: Memphis Southwind trounces defending champs Prestonwood Christian
- City of Palms prep basketball: Tift County tops Eagle's Landing in Georgia consolation battle
- City of Palms prep basketball: Omaha (Neb.) Central's star Akoy Agau impressing after just picking up game
Day 1
- Photos: City of Palms Classic - Day One
- Video: City of Palms: Bishop Verot 49, St. Thomas Aquinas 48
- Video: City of Palms: American Heritage 61, Riverview 47
- Video: City of Palms: Omaha Central 62, Eagles' Landing (Ga.) 37
- Video: City of Palms: Long Beach Poly (Ca.) 62, Tift County (Ga.) 55
- City of Palms prep basketball: 2012 Day 1 roundup
- City of Palms prep basketball: Chester (Pa.) extends win streak to 61
- City of Palms prep basketball: Bishop Verot advances on buzzer beater
- City of Palms prep basketball: Eubanks paces American-Plantation past Sarasota-Riverview
- City of Palms prep basketball: Long Beach Poly knocks off No. 12 team in nation
- City of Palms prep basketball: Omaha Central keeps winning, sets Nebraska state
- Prep basketball: City of Palms Classic is college recruiters' dream
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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