Florida’s pipeline to college basketball and the NBA, fueled in large part by Montverde Academy, has expanded as more independent programs stockpile elite players with NIL deals and look more like professional teams than high school squads.
That showed in the Grind Session “World Championship” tournament, an event for teams that play outside traditional governing bodies like the Florida High School Athletic Association. The finals bracket started with 33 teams and finished last weekend in Kentucky with an all-Florida final four.
Prolific Prep (38-3), which moved its franchise from Napa, California, to South Florida last spring, won the final, 68-62, against Southeastern Prep Academy (41-9) — which poured big money into a multi-sport franchise headquartered with classrooms and a fitness center at the Orlando Sportsplex (formerly the RDV practice site for the Orlando Magic).
The other semifinal teams were another Orlando team, Academy of Central Florida (28-8), and DME Academy (25-10) of Daytona Beach. All four are members of the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association (SIAA).
Standouts for Prolific were Ohio State recruit Alex Smith, who went 5-for-8 on 3s in the final, Arizona commit Caleb Holt and 6-foot-9 Kansas signee Davion Adkins. Smith left Ohio, Holt migrated from Georgia, and Adkins came in from Texas as seniors.
SEPA was led by Texas transplant Beckham Black (16 points), the No. 3 senior per 247Sports; and CJ Rosser (14 points), a 6-10 wing from North Carolina rated by Rivals as the top junior in the country. Black’s older brother is Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black.
“We already had a big pool of talent and a lot of guys in the NBA,” said Scott Golden, an Orlando-based scout who evaluates players for more than 300 colleges. “These guys are bringing in imports from all over the place. It’s made Florida the hotbed for basketball. By a mile.”
Prolific climbed to No. 1 in this week’s FAB 50 national rankings and is one of the favorites to win next week’s Chipotle Nationals tournament in Indiana. It plays seventh-ranked Montverde (21-6), Lake County’s boarding school powerhouse, in a Thursday, April 2 quarterfinal at 2 p.m. on ESPN2. Semifinals are Friday at 2 and 4 p.m. on ESPN, leading to a Saturday noon final on ESPN.
Boys volleyball
First-year Horizon coach Kristen Caleo inherited an experienced team that is taking her on a nice ride in her debut as a high school head coach.
The Hawks are No. 3 in the FHSAA rankings and were 12-0 going into a challenging Wednesday night match against No. 6 Lake Brantley (14-2).
“I knew we had a good group of boys. They’re all best friends,” Caleo said Tuesday. “The camaraderie is amazing. They work hard. It’s been really fun.”
Her son, James, a senior outside hitter, is the Hawks’ leader in kills. The other senior starters are Joshua Robinson and Rafael Mello. They play alongside four juniors in twins Esteban and Emmanuel Tascon; Leo Cappe and Jonathan Nogueira.
Next up for Horizon is this weekend’s Orlando Classic tournament, which boasts seven of the state’s top 18 teams.
Pool play tips off at 2 p.m. Friday at the Game Pointe Event Center in South Orlando and Freedom, which is the host school. Bracket play begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at Freedom and Olympia High — leading to a noon championship match at Freedom.
The 16-team field includes No. 2 Miami Columbus, No. 7 Seminole Ridge, No. 8 Freedom, No. 12 Belen Jesuit, No. 17 Winter Park and No. 18 Archbishop McCarthy.
Freedom is 12-0. Winter Park is 6-2 after losing Tuesday Timber Creek, which is also in the Classic.
“This is going to tell us all a lot about ourselves,” Freedom coach Gina McFerren said of the tournament.
Winter Park boys volleyball is first to win 3 FHSAA titles in 4 seasons
Tennis
Lake Nona’s boys and girls tennis teams are both 12-0 and are the heavy favorites to win the Metro Conference championships on Monday afternoon at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus on Monday. The Lions boys team, state champs last year, has a new No. 1 player in Japanese senior standout Minato Koido.
Big Dance
Former Windermere High basketball player Darrell Armstrong Jr., son of the famed Orlando Magic guard of the same name, scored 33 points to lead University of Maryland – Baltimore County (UMBC) to the America East Conference Tournament Championship and a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. He made 7 of 9 three-point shots. The Retrievers (24-9) lost to Howard 86-83 in a First Four play-in game.
Track & field
Coming off spring break, this is a big week with meets hosted by Bishop Moore and East River Wednesday; Windermere and Olympia on Friday; and Saturday’s slate, including Day 2 of the FSU Relays and events at The First Academy, Freedom and Oak Ridge.
A tall achievement last week was a 5-8½ high jump clearance by Boone senior Naima Durandisse at the Brian Jaeger Elite Classic.
Lake Minneola’s Wesley Morisseau and Seminole’s Jayden Aristile have both cleared 6-7½ in the boys high jump.
Geneva School sixth grader Lilyanna Duvra is the state leader for her grade level in the girls 100 (12.26), 200 (24.64) and (56.52) — all run in varsity victories. She was the AAU Junior Olympic 200-meter champ in August.
Softball
Three area teams stand No. 1 in the FHSAA rankings. Montverde Academy (8-1) is No. 1 in 2A, Lake Brantley (10-2) is tops in 7A, and Winter Springs (11-3) is the frontrunner in 5A.
Hagerty (10-1) is No. 2 and East Ridge (11-1) No. 3 in 7A.
Geneva School (7-1) is No. 2 and The Master’s Academy (8-2) No. 2 in 1A.
The First Academy (10-2) is No. 3 and Cornerstone Charter (11-1) No. 7 in 2A.
TFA’s Alaina Surber struck out all nine batters she faced in a relief role in a 6-0 win vs. Winter Park.
Missy Odom threw a no-hitter with 17 strikeouts and hit a grand slam in a Montverde victory.
Windermere Prep senior Vanessa Nawracaj pitched a one-hitter with 16 strikeouts in an eight-inning 1-0 loss to Mount Dora.
Bishop Moore senior star Nate Davis is batting .441 with 10 of his 26 hits going for extra bases. That includes 3 home runs. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Baseball
Bishop Moore (16-1) scored a 3-1 Monday win against visiting Don Bosco Prep (1-1), which went 26-2 and won its third New Jersey Non-Public state title in four years last season. That win came three days after Hagerty (12-5) stopped the Hornets’ 15-game win streak.
Hagerty’s Kelton Fitzgerald went the distance and struck out eight as the winning pitcher. Bishop Moore’s Nate Davis went 2 for 3 with a solo home run.
Aiden Balls went 3 for 3 with a triple, double, 2 runs and 2 RBI for Orangewood Christian (16-1) in a 6-0 Tuesday win vs. 1A District 5 rival Geneva School (13-3).
Flagler Palm Coast beat Lyman 10-5 in Saturday’s Florida League High School Invitational title game. The Greyhounds came in with a 2-11 record before going 3-1 in the tournament. St. Cloud, which won its first 12 games, went 2-2 with losses to FPC and Lyman.
Maddox Stinson pitched a two-hit 6-0 shutout win for Dr. Phillips (11-9) against Eustis.
Bishop Moore is No. 3 in 4A and Orangewood is No. 3 in 1A in FHSAA rankings.
West Orange (13-6) is No. 8 in 7A but lost 10-0 to No. 14 Windermere (12-6) on Tuesday. Miguel Acosta went 5 for 5 for West Orange in a 13-3 win vs. Spruce Creek.
Girls lacrosse
Lake Highland Prep, ranked No. 2 in the FHSAA, ran its record to 14-1 with a 14-3 win against St. Thomas Aquinas. The Highlanders were scheduled to close out their regular season with a Wednesday home game against Virginia No. 1 St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes (4-0).
Lake Mary (9-3) is ranked No. 2 in 3A, just ahead of Oviedo (12-1). The Rams beat the Bears 15-3 early in the season.
Winter Springs (12-0) is No. 6 in that big-school class. The Bears host Oviedo on Tuesday.
Olivia Van Arsdall had 10 goals and an assist for Lake Minneola (6-3) in a 14-8 win over Lake Wales.
Boys lacrosse
Bishop Moore (10-4) and Winter Park (11-1) are the top-ranked area teams. The Hornets are No. 5 in 1A. The Wildcats are No. 6 in 2A.
Winter Park’s loss was to state No. 2 Ponte Vedra. Bishop Moore has out-of-area losses to Ponte Vedra, Jupiter, Benjamin and then to undefeated Loyola of Los Angeles in a trip to California last week.
Beach volleyball
Montverde Academy, which was 5-0 through Tuesday, is No. 2 in 1A as the highest-ranked area team.
Hagerty (6-0 through Tuesday, is No. 5 in 3A, one spot ahead of Winter Park (7-0).
Girls water polo
Reigning state champ Sanford Seminole (20-0) is the state’s top-ranked team — just ahead of West Orange (12-2). The Seminoles beat the Warriors 13-8 and 15-11 in highly competitive matchups. They’re likely to clash again in the playoffs.
West Orange senior water polo goalkeeper Bailey Patriola has made 84 saves. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Boys water polo
Seminole (17-4), West Orange (12-2) and Dr. Phillips (14-2) are numbers 3-4-5 in that order in the FHSAA rankings, but it looks like it’s anybody’s ballgame when those teams meet each other.
DP lost to Seminole 10-9 early in the season, but since then has scored tight wins against the ‘Noles, 13-12, and West Orange, 14-11.
West Orange owns an 11-9 win against Seminole.
Flag football
Deltona (9-0) is ranked No. 2 in 2A after scoring a decisive 34-6 road win against 3A No. 8 Oviedo, which was 6-0 before the loss. Deltona then surpassed its win total from last season (8-6) with a 19-7 win against DeLand on Tuesday.
Harmony (8-1) is No. 8 in 3A going into a Thursday game at Cypress Creek (5-1).
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.