City of Palms Prep basketball: Mighty Montverde manhandles Lone Peak for title

  • By TOM HANSON
  • Posted December 22, 2012 at 11:40 p.m., updated December 23, 2012 at 2:28 a.m.
Corey Perrine/Staff Lone Peak's Nick Emery (4) is stuffed by Montverde's Dakari Johnson (1) while Lone Peak's Eric Mika looks on during the City of Palms Classic championship game Saturday night at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers. For more photos from the tournament's final day, visit naplesnews.com/prepzone.

Photo by COREY PERRINE, Naples Daily News // Buy this photo

Corey Perrine/Staff Lone Peak's Nick Emery (4) is stuffed by Montverde's Dakari Johnson (1) while Lone Peak's Eric Mika looks on during the City of Palms Classic championship game Saturday night at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers. For more photos from the tournament's final day, visit naplesnews.com/prepzone.

Montverde Academy Basketball

FORT MYERS — Montverde Academy didn’t leave any room for doubt. There’s no longer a debate.

The Eagles, from Orlando, proved Saturday night they are the best high school boys’ basketball team in the nation.

Montverde Academy routed crowd-favorite Highland (Utah) Lone Peak, 66-45, in the championship game of the 40th City of Palms Classic at Bishop Verot High School..

The highly-anticipated title game had been billed as No. 1 vs. No. 1 with Montverde Academy leading ESPN’s poll and Lone Peak atop the MaxPreps rankings. Some called it East vs. West. Others referred to it as private (Montverde) vs. public (Lone Peak).

The hype didn’t match the outcome.

Montverde (10-0) manhandled the BYU-bound boys from Utah. And Florida-commit Kasey Hill's final-minute dunk — a monster two-handed reverse jam — put an exclamation mark on a dominant run through a loaded tournament field.

The Eagles built a 10-point first quarter lead and never gave up the double-digit margin. The over-flowing crowd even started leaving with 4 minutes remaining when the game got out of hand.

Montverde had four players in double figures with junior D’Angelo Russell and senior Devin Williams leading the way with 15 each.

Williams said he realizes why Montverde coach Kevin Boyle had them up in the early hours running during the preseason.

“At first I complained, ‘Why are we running at 5:30 in the morning’ but now I know, it’s for days like this,” Williams said “I was just willing to do whatever to bring this championship home.”

Montverde is the first Florida team to win the City of Palms title, with a 16-team field, since Miami High in 1991. This is Boyle’s second City of Palms championship. He coached Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick to the title in 2010 and left for Montverde the next season.

All of Russell’s points came in the first half as Montverde jumped out to a commanding 39-22 halftime lead.

To compound the Eagles’ hot start, the Knights of Lone Peak (10-1) struggled from the field. Lone Peak shot only 28 percent from the field in the first half and only 32 percent for the game. The Knights, known for making some long-distance bombs, shot only 33 percent from beyond the arc. The struggles hurt the Knights’ confidence.

“It was a tough game for all of us,” said guard Nick Emery, who only shot 3-for-13 from the field. “Our shooting wasn’t there and our defense wasn’t there in the first half.”

Russell’s hot hand didn’t help Lone Peak either. The 6-foot-4 guard, who is ranked by ESPN as No. 14 for his class, hit three 3-pointers to spark the Eagles early.

“My team needed me,” Russell said. “I know when to step up and make the right plays.”

In the first half, Montverde shot 57 percent from the field and was even deadlier from 3-point land, thanks in part to Russell, making 60 percent.

Montverde behind tournament MVP Dakari Johnson and Williams also controlled the paint. Williams and Johnson both tallied 11 rebounds. Johnson, a junior, also added 10 points.

This also is Johnson’s second City of Palms’ championship. Johnson played on St. Patrick’s 2010 title team as a freshman. He remembers envying then-teammate and current Charlotte Bobcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who was named the tournament’s MVP.

“I was here as a freshman and I wanted to be MVP then but Gilchrist got it,’ said the 6-foot-10 Johnson, who averaged nearly 15 points and 14 rebounds per game during this year's tournament. “I never thought I would be in this position again to win a championship and win the MVP. I am going to text Gilchrist and tell him that I was a better MVP.”

Lone Peak made a mini-rally in the third quarter cutting the margin to 11 points at one point but that’s as close as it got.

BYU-bound TJ Hawes paced Lone Peak with 21 points. But Emery (8) and center Eric Mika (5) combined for only 13 points. The Knights leave Fort Myers with a disappointing second place.

“Obviously this one hurts a little bit,” Haws said, “but we will move on and get better from (the loss).”

Daily news staffer Ryan Toohey contributed to this story.

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