City of Palms Day 2: Imhotep, Paul VI advance easily, Centennial survives Winter Haven
Coverage of the second day of the 2022 City of Palms Classic at Suncoast Arena.
Imhotep Charter 73, Isidore Newman 49
The Panthers led nearly wire-to-wire in winning their City of Palms opener in dominating fashion and in the process, snapping the Greenies’ 24-game winning season.
Employing a ferocious defense, Imhotep (5-0), the defending Pennsylvania Class 5A champions and the No. 4 ranked team in the MaxPreps Top 25, held Newman (11-1) 20 points below their season scoring average.
However, Panthers coach Andre Noble pointed out the fact that the Greenies managed to outrebound his team 29-26.
“You come and win a game in the Coty of Palms you take the win but we have to be better,” he said. “But our goal is not to win games here, it’s to win the City of Palms so to do that we have to have a better effort, especially rebounding the basketball.”
Imhotep reached the City of Palms championship game in its Classic debut in 2018, losing 68-47 to McEachern (Ga.).
“That team was lengthier and not necessarily reliant as much on its guard play,” Noble said “This team is about our guard play and these three guys.”
Those “three guys” are 6-foot-7 senior forward Justin Edwards, a Kentucky commit, 6-foot senior guard Rahmir Barno, an FGCU signee, and junior guard Ahmed Nowell. The trip combined for 50 points, 10 assists, and six steals in Saturday’s win.
Senior guard Chris Lockett, a Boise St. commit, led Isidore Newman with 14 points while 6-foo-7 junior Todd Jones added 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Greenies, which went 0-3 at last year’s City of Palms, have now lost four consecutive Classic games.
Centennial 61, Winter Haven 58
Winter Haven had its sloppiest half of the season against the City of Palms No. 2 seed and Centennial and the nation's No. 5 team according to MaxPreps took advantage by taking a 12-point halftime lead.
The Blue Devils switched to a 1-2-2 defense and changed their fortunes in the second half, forcing Centennial into turnovers and bad shots and even taking leads of 54-53 and 58-57.
That’s when the Huskies leaned on its star player Jared McCain, who hit a couple of jumpers, including the game-winner with just over a minute left, made a critical rebound off a missed Winter Haven free throw with :51.7 left and buried his final two free-throw attempts to seal the win.
McCain finished with 29 points − 16 in the second half − on 11-of-17 shooting, including three 3-pointers and all four of his free throws.
“I've been there multiple times I just know when I need to, you know, make the right defensive play and then you know, make the right play on offense, and I had open pull-ups and then two back to back so it was just making the right play,” said McCain.
Winter Haven had a big game from Isaac Celiscar, who hit big shots in the second half to finish with 18 points, 14 after the half. Georgia recruit Dylan James scored 13 as did Kjei Parker and Jamie Phillips 12 as the Blue Devils’ big four almost led the team to an upset on paper.
“We don't have two or three Dylan James, but Phillips and Celiscar, they’re matchup problems for just about everybody we play,” Winter Haven coach Tyrone Woodside said. “They struggle trying to figure them out. And so that's something that no matter who we play those things allows things to open up because everybody knows who (James) is. He’s going to have to play against two or three people for the rest of his high school life. And we have to have the other guy do their part to kind of bail him out sometimes.”
The last time one of the top 2 seeds in the City of Palms lost in the first round came in 2004 when Palm Beach Lakes beat that year’s No. 1 South Gwinnett.
“It was far from our best game,” Centennial coach Josh Giles said. “And we've kind of been doing this all year where we haven't really put together a 32-minute game. And this is just kind of par for the course for us right now, we're not playing the full 32 minutes, and we need to figure it out quick.”
The Huskies had 15 turnovers, nine in the second half, and only had three offensive rebounds for the game as the Blue Devils’ aggressive defense and work on the boards helped them come back.
“We didn't box out. We didn't rebound very well,” Giles said. “And we had a stretch earlier when they went to a 1-2-2, the little three-quarter court trap, where we turned the ball over, like at least two or three times in a row and they just started to fast break. So I think when they went to that, I want to say we were up nine. And you know, they're able to come right back and tie it up.”
Woodside said he had scouted Centennial online and using YouTube so the coaching staff felt the 1-2-2 would work in this game and Winter Haven hadn’t shown its 1-2-2 before so it would be a different twist no one had seen. The Blue Devils coach promised he’s been watching other opponents as well.
“That's more of a coach keeping things in your pocket. And we have a few other things for down the road for other people too. But that's just you know, the responsibility of a coach to try to catch a coach a little off guard. They're a talented team, they were going to make their adjustments to it. But it just gave us a little bit of time to get back in it.”
Paul VI 76, Canterbury 27
Paul VI already played some of the nation's more notable boys basketball teams entering the City of Palms, including Christ the King, Mater Dei and the Patrick School. So to warm up for its Classic run the No. 3 ranked team in the country was matched with The Canterbury School.
The Panthers (6-0) and Cougars (3-7) got what they wanted out of the matchup despite the score.
Paul VI coach was looking for his team to play solid defense and team basketball on the offensive end and he got both. The Cougars only scored 13 points and had 13 turnovers and had 1 clock violation in the first half as the Panthers raced to a 45-13 lead at the break and finished by causing 21 turnovers which turned into 40 points while Canterbury shot 34.5% for the game.
Offensively, the Panthers had 21 assists while 11 players scored at least 4 points led by Garrett Sundra with 11 and Darren Harris with 10.
"I was really proud of how we shared the ball. I think that's one of our hallmarks of who we are. See, we had 21 assists for the game, so that was a lot of that was great to see," Paul VI coach Glenn Farello said. "And we came out with energy, and that, you know, we got that offensive rhythm going because we did share the ball so well. And I thought our defensive intensity in that first quarter, allowed us to jump out to that lead and just really proud of the effort for four quarters."
Canterbury (3-7) played a tighter game in the second half, and Cougars coach Mike Hibbs saw the experience alone as a positive.
"We got a lot out of this game for sure" Hibbs said. "We played hard, I thought for almost 32 minutes we competed. That's what I asked them to do.
"The experience that these guys have, you can't put a price on that for playing in this arena, with the crowd against, you know, a top five team in the nation. I mean, we don't get the opportunity to do that very often. ... And we're young. So hopefully this will build something for us and make our young guys better players."
Hibbs highlighted Jerry Ashley, who scored 4 points, for playing well inside and guard Leroy Roker for adapting to Paul VI's length to run the point better in the second half.
Myers Park 62, North Laurel 52
Myers Park pulled away in the fourth quarter, holding North Laurel to just 7 points, to pick up the win. A big part of that was the Mustangs limiting North Laurel star and Kentucky signee Reed Sheppard to nine second-half points and only 20 for the game. Ryan Davidson was the only other Jaguars player in double figures with 16.
Myers Park had balanced scoring with Shadiq White Jr. leading the way with 15, Bishop Boswell and Sir Mohammed scoring 14, and Elijah Strong adding 13. The Mustangs were especially deadly in the paint, outscoring the Jaguars 38-14 and outrebounding them 36-24.
IMG Academy Blue 81, Westminster Academy 78
The Ascenders, which led by as many as 22 points, survived a late charge by the Lions in a Sunshine Series first-round game.
Westminster (3-2), which trailed by 18 points at halftime after shooting just 28% from the field, cut IMG's lead to four points with 34.8 seconds remaining. But the Ascenders connected on both ends of a one-and-one and broke the Lions' press for a wide-open layup down the stretch to hold off the comeback attempt.
Junior guard Gerald O'Keefe led IMG with 18 points while junior wing Eric Baldassarre added 17. The Ascenders feature the tallest player in the tournament in 7-foot-6 junior Olivier Rioux but he didn't make much of an impact in Saturday's game, grabbing two rebounds and not attempting a shot in 11 scoreless minutes.
Westminster had six players score in double-figures led by freshman guard Alex Constanza's 17 points.
IMG (7-3) will face Providence School (8-0) Monday in the Sunshine Series championship game.
Providence School 65, The Villages 23
The Stallions' top trio of Chris Arias, Mason Lee and Jaylen Robinson proved to be far too much for The Villages in a Sunshine Series first-round matchup.
Providence (8-0) never trailed in the contest, shooting 47% from the field while holding the Buffalo (4-4) to just nine total field goals. Providence also forced 19 turnovers, converting them into 28 points.
Arias, a 6-foot-6 senior guard, led all scorers with 17 points. Lee, a 6-foot-7 guard, chipped in with 14 points and five assists, while Robinson added 15 points and three blocked shots.
Senior forward Sam Waters had nine points and seven rebounds for The Villages.
Newton (Ga.) 70, Charlotte 52
Newton got 34 points from its bench and was hot from the outside to send Charlotte to its second loss in as many days at the tournament in a morning consolation game.
Newton shot 10-of-24 from beyond the arc with Jabez Jenkins hitting 4 and totaling 13 points and David Freeman hitting 3 and ending up with 16 points. Antravian Belcher led the Rams with 18 points and Marchus Whitlock added 12.
The Tarpons were led by John Gamble and Chris Cornish. Gamble led the way with 23 points and 7 rebounds and Cornish added 11 points and 8 rebounds as only five players scored for Charlotte.
Saturday's results
Game 6: Newton 70, Charlotte 52
Game 7: SUNSHINE SERIES Providence School 65, The Villages 23
Game 8: SUNSHINE SERIES IMG Academy Blue 81 vs Westminster Academy 78
Game 9: Imhotep Charter 73, Isidore Newman School 49
Game 10: St. Paul VI HS (Virginia) 76, Canterbury School 27
Game 11: Centennial (Calif) 61, Winter Haven 58
Game 12: Myers Park 62, North Laurel 52
Sunday's schedule
Noon - Game 13: Consolation Vashon vs. Isadore Newman
1:45 p.m. - Game 14: SIGNATURE SERIES Link Academy (Mo.) vs Saint Frances Academy (Md.)
3:30 p.m. - Game 15: SIGNATURE SERIES Patrick School (N.J.) vs The Rock School
5:15 p.m. - Game 16: Quarterfinal Archbishop Stepinac vs. Imhotep
6:50 p.m. - Bahama Breeze 45-second Challenge
7 p.m. - Joe North THREE-POINT SHOOTOUT
7:45 p.m. - Edison National Bank SLAM DUNK CHAMPIONSHIP
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: City of Palms Day 2: Imhotep, Paul VI advance after easy wins
