31-01-2025
Montverde overwhelms Windermere prep in tourney opener 81-41
MONTVERDE — Coach Brian Hoff and his Windermere Prep boys basketball players are used to winning games. The Lakers have won 20 games in each of the past three seasons and even played for the Class 3A state championship the past two years, losing both times to Miami Riviera Prep.
But sometimes, Hoff understands, there are realistic expectations to consider. One of those times was Thursday night in the first round of the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament.
Facing the nationally-ranked home team, Windermere Prep was outmanned in every phase of the game and was overwhelmed in an 81-41 shellacking that prompted a running clock in the fourth quarter.
'Well it's easy for a game to get away from you here, especially playing in the MAIT,' Hoff said. 'Montverde is always tough, especially when they are playing here on their home court, so give credit to them. They'll have a chance to win a national championship this year.'
WPS went through an early drought in the first quarter that saw the Lakers fail to score on five straight possessions, and while Montverde's Dante Allen, a Villanova commit, was burying 3-pointers, WPS found itself in a 19-4 hole and that was about it.
The Lakers (16-6) did start to chip away at the lead, starting the second quarter with an 8-2 spurt that cut the lead to 24-15, but that was as close as they would get.
'I was proud of the guys for their fight,' Hoff said, 'and I'm happy with how we played in spurts tonight.'
WPS was led Brandon Bass Jr., who had 16 points and Malachi Martis added 11.
There wasn't really much that Montverde did wrong. The Eagles, ranked No. 5 in the country by ESPN, hit a blistering 64% of their floor shots, including half of their 26 3-point attempts. Allen, who is from Miami, was 6-of-6 shooting, with five 3-pointers and led the way with 18 points. Indiana commit Trent Sisley, of Santa Claus, Ind., was 5-of-5 shooting with a 3-pointer for 13 points, and Creighton commit Hudson Greer, of Lakeway, Texas, added 12 points.
Montverde forced 23 WPS turnovers and outrebounded the smaller Lakers 25-17. The shortest Montverde starter was 6-foot-4, and the Eagles went 6-8, 6-6, 6-6 across the front line, while the tallest WPS player was 6-6.
The Eagles will now face Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian in the MAIT semifinals on Friday at 8 p.m. Calvary defeated No. 19-ranked AZ Compass, of Chandler, Ariz., 58-49 in one quarterfinal, while CIA-Bella Vista, of Scottsdale, Ariz., defeated Riviera Prep 72-43 and No. 7 Utah Prep defeated Weston Sagemont Prep 82-79.
Montverde coach Kevin Boyle was happy to see his team snap out of a two-game skid, the first time the Eagles had lost two straight games since 2012. Montverde lost AZ Compass 45-41 and Miami Columbus 79-59.
'It's a long time since that happened,' Boyle said of the two-game skid. 'We were showing a lot of improvement, but then we kinda got upset by Arizona Compass, which is a good team, and then obviously Columbus really outplayed us and we kinda go overwhelmed down there.
'In this level of high school, you don't play a lot of real road games with intense crowds. Columbus had one in a small gym and for our kids it was kinda like playing at Duke. … They kinda got stage fright and froze a little bit.'
Boyle knows the rest of the weekend won't be as easy as was Thursday night's victory.
'Obviously we had better athletes and guys who are a little more experienced players,' Boyle said. 'We also had a lot of good looks and we're not going to get those type of looks against bigger, more athletic guys. So we're not gonna shoot those kinds of shots.'
The Montverde girls, who are ranked No. 2 in the nation by ESPN, rolled past Fort Erie International of Ontario, Canada, on Thursday 73-55. Saniyah Hall had 22 points, 6 assists, 5 steals and 5 rebounds in the game, while Lourdes Da Silva Costa added 19 points.
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