GEICO Nationals Day 1: Sunrise upsets top-seed Montverde, AZ Compass, IMG, Link win tight games

Quarterfinal games played at Florida SouthWestern State College's Suncoast Arena in Fort Myers on Thursday.

Sunrise Christian (Kan.) 46, Montverde (Fla.) 45

There’ll be a new champion at the GEICO High School Basketball Nationals this year.

Sunrise Christian spoiled Montverde’s quest for a third consecutive tournament title with a 46-45 win over the top-seeded Eagles in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Senior forward Scotty Middleton’s 3-pointer with 21 seconds left capped a 7-0 run for the eighth-seeded Buffaloes, giving them a one-point lead.

Montverde, ESPN's top-ranked team in the nation, had a chance to win the game on its final possession but sophomore Cooper Flagg’s putback attempt off a driving miss by teammate Derek Queen rimmed out at the buzzer.

Sunrise had lost two previous meetings with the Eagles this season, both by identical 61-54 scores. The Buffaloes appeared poised to drop to 0-3 against Montverde as the Eagles used a 16-0 run to take a 42-32 lead with 5:12 left to play.

But Sunrise, which lost in the first round of last year's GEICO after entering as the No. 1 seed, responded with a 14-3 surge and held Montverde without a field goal for the final 2:17 to pull the upset.

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PLAYER OF THE GAME: Matas Buzelis. Less than 48 hours after playing at the McDonald’s All-American game in Houston, the 6-foot-11 guard/forward played all 32 minutes for Sunrise and led all scorers with 17 points. That included a four-point play with 53 seconds left that pulled the Buffalos within 45-43 and set the stage for Middleton’s heroics.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Middleton, who had 12 points for Sunrise, cashed in the game’s biggest field goal when he knocked down what proved to be the game-winning 3.

NOTABLE: Montverde was denied in its quest for a third straight GEICO Nationals championship for the second time in the event’s history. Coach Kevin Boyle’s squad also won three in a row from 2013-15. Overall, the Eagles have captured six GEICO titles in 11 tournament appearances.

QUOTABLE: “I just told the guys in the huddle, “We’re not going home yet; it’s not our time yet,’” Middleton said. “I just fired up everybody; I punched everybody in the chest.”

AZ Compass Prep 73, Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) 71

The AZ Compass bench helped lead the Dragons past LuHi in an electric finish to Thursday’s quarterfinal.

The Crusaders battled back from a 12-point deficit at the end of the third quarter, tying the game at 66-66 with 2 minutes remaining.

Both AZ Compass’ Mookie Cook and LuHi’s Amdy Ndiaye fouled out in the fourth quarter as the teams traded blows. Ultimately, it was Rayvon’s Griffith’s putback of Tru Washington’s shot attempt that pulled the Dragons ahead with 10 seconds remaining.

The Crusaders couldn’t respond on their final possession, securing the opportunity for AZ Compass to face IMG Academy in the semifinals tomorrow.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Cincinnati commit Rayvon Griffith played just five minutes in the first half but shined in the games finial minutes. Griffith shot 4-for-4 and scored the Dragons’ last 5 points in the contest.

PLAY OF THE GAME: The final minute was full of them: with 44 seconds to go, Griffith hit a 3-pointer to go up 71-68. LuHi’s Jayden Reid responded immediately, driving through contact for the bucket and a successful foul shot. Griffith, however, had the last word with his putback.

RECRUIT WATCH: UConn commit Jayden Ross led all scorers with 25 points on a 9-for-11 shooting day. He shot 50 percent from beyond the arc and was unguardable in the paint.

NOTABLE: AZ Compass scored 36 points off the bench compared to 6 points for LuHi. In addition, the Dragons were outscored 18-12 in first-half paint points and finished the game leading that category 36-32.

QUOTABLE: “Our bench is just unbelievable,” AZ Compass head coach Ed Gipson said. “Today, it was Rayvon. Tomorrow, it will probably be Trent Pierce or somebody. It’s been like all year. We got so many guys.”

On his clutch game-winning bucket, Griffith said, “It’s my senior year. I wanted all the other seniors to go out right, so I just didn’t want to go home, so I just went in there, all thanks to God, I got the rebound and put it back.”

− Dustin Levy

IMG Academy 66, Prolific Prep (Calif.) 63

After squandering a 22-point lead with just more than nine minutes remaining in regulation, Blue Cain saved IMG Academy with a bank 3-pointer just inside halfcourt as the buzzer sounded lifting the Ascenders to a 66-63 victory over Prolific Prep of Napa, California.

Playing for the first time in 50 days, IMG Academy (19-7) owned a 54-32 lead after Cain fed Khani Rooths for a dunk with 1:11 left in the third quarter. The third-seeded Crew (35-2) then went on a 21-9 run to tie the game at 63-all on a 3-pointer by Aden Halloway with 9 seconds left.

The sixth-seeded Ascenders used a timeout to set up the final play. With the clock ticking down, Blue got the ball over the midcourt stripe, turned and fired toward the basket. The ball banked off the backboard for the winning points.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: The 6-foot-4 Blue, who is headed to Georgia Tech, scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. Blue made 8-of-12 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and both his free throws. He also picked up four assists, two blocked shots and a steal during his 28 minutes.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Blue’s 3-pointer just inside midcourt to break a tie as the final horn sounded qualifies in this case. Runner-up for Play of the Game was IMG Academy guard Jacoi Hutchinson, who followed up a missed 3-pointer with a rebound and drive to the basket to put the Ascenders up 63-58 with 59.6 seconds left. Hutchinson, a senior guard, finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

RECRUIT WATCH: Rooths, a 6-foot-7 wing ranked 42nd on ESPN’s Junior list, finished second on IMG Academy in scoring with 13 points to go with five rebounds. … Holloway, a 6-1 senior headed to Auburn, led Prolific Prep in scoring with 21 points, 12 in the second half.

NOTEABLE: It was Prolific Prep’s second loss of the season, the first a 90-87 setback to a Dream City Christian (Glendale, Arizona) team it defeated on St. Patrick’s Day, 91-78. … IMG Academy held the Crew to 22 points below their season scoring average. … It was the second meeting between the teams. Prolific Prep took the first 75-71 in the Flyin to the Hoop Tournament on Jan. 13, 2018, in Miamisburg, Ohio. … In nine seasons the Crew are 233-42; IMG Academy is 191-87 during the same time. … Former Sarasota Riverview High standout Ja’Mier Jones, a sophomore at IMG Academy, scored four points, grabbed two rebounds, and had two assists in 19 minutes.

QUOTABLE: Cain on the final play: “We thought they were going to be in man, so the play was for me to get a screen and have me race it down. But they were in a 1-2-2 so it had to become makeshift. I knew I had to try to get up a shot, so I had to get it up and get as clean a look as possible. I didn’t think I was going to bank it, but it looked on line. I thought it had a chance.” Cain said “yeah, definitely” when asked if it was the biggest shot he has ever made.

IMG Academy coach Sean McAloon on giving up a 22-point lead before pulling out the victory: “Make no mistake, we should have won the game. We were the better team for most of the game. We just panicked a little bit, which is uncharacteristic for us. We just didn’t do the things we needed to do for that 4½-minute period. We just let them back in it. Uncharacteristic amount of turnovers, just bad defense for a stretch. We lost our minds for a little bit."

− Dennis Maffezzoli

Link Academy (Mo.) 68, St. Paul VI (Va.) 65

Kicking off the tournament, Link Academy (25-1) survived a stern test from St. Paul VI (21-4) to advance in Thursday’s quarterfinal game.

Baylor commit Ja’Kobe Walter scored 22 of the team’s 36 points in the second half, finding buckets at every level, especially in the moments when the Panthers were threatening to take over.

Maryland commit DeShawn Harris-Smith, on a 5-for-14 shooting day, hit a 3-pointer for St. Paul VI with 16 seconds to go to cut the Lion lead to 66-65. But Link Academy point guard Elliot Cadeau responded by hitting both his free throws, and Harris-Smith’s follow-up attempt from 3 bounced off the rim, sealing the victory for the 2022 runners up.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: The 6-foot-5 Walter led all scorers with 34 points on 10-for-18 shooting, including several tough drives to the rim and four made 3-pointers. He also frequently got the foul line, sinking 10 of 13 attempts at the charity stripe.

PLAY OF THE GAME: With a little over two minutes to go, Cadeau came up with a key steal and dish to Walter for a dunk to go up 61-56, giving the Lions critical separation in the back-and-forth battle.

RECRUIT WATCH: Cadeau, a UNC commit, didn’t score until hitting a pair of critical foul shots late, but provided a boost for Link Academy all over the court with 14 assists, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

NOTABLE: The Lions will play the winner of Sunrise Christian and the top seed and defending champions in Montverde. Link Academy faced both teams this season, beating the Buffaloes and falling to the Eagles in their only loss of the season.

QUOTABLE: “I wish we would have beaten them a lot worse,” Link Academy head coach Bill Armstrong said. “It would have been easier, but I knew it wasn’t going to be. … The clock ran out with us on top, but it was about as evenly matched a game as you could get.”

On his teammate Cadeau, Walter said, “We’re super close on and off the court. I think he’s the best point guard in the country for sure, and I think he showed it today, so I’m really proud of him.”

− Dustin Levy

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: GEICO Nationals 2023: Coverage of four boys basketball games on Day 1