National High School Invitational 2013

The Eagles (22-2) are deep in talent with two players earning All American honors. At 6-1, Kasey Hill is the floor general and signed with the University of Florida. Hill is equally adept at setting up his teammates, breaking down a defense and scoring in bunches. In the middle is 6-10, 250-pound Dakari Johnson, who selected Kentucky over Syracuse and Georgetown. Johnson continues to mature as a player. He possesses a soft shooting touch, great footwork, strength inside and good hands. Devin Williams, a 6-8 power forward from Cincinnati, OH, will take his talents in the fall to West Virginia. He’s a terrific mid-range player, who can take it hard to the rim and dominate in the lower blocks.

The Eagles enter the NHSI battle tested but haven’t played a regular game since Jan. 27—that’s 67 days! When the Orlando area school did play, they played one of the nation’s most challenging schedules. In December, the Eagles won four games (verses three ranked opponents) to capture the City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. In the final, they stopped Lone Peak (UT), 66-45, a squad that recently won their sixth state title in eight years. On Dec. 27, Montverde beat eventual state champion Ensworth School (TN), 98-78, and week later they took out another state champion, Simeon (IL), at the Cancer Research Classic by 29 points on ESPN2. However, Montverde did drop back-to-back games within a three-day span in January. First, the Eagles were stunned by Paul VI (VA) in the finals of the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions on January 19 in Springfield, MO and then two days later at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, MA, coach Kevin Boyle’s team fell to No. 1 Findlay (NV), 62-59. The Eagles closed out the season winning the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament, trouncing La Lumiere (IN), 57-38, in the title game.