City of Palms Classic Top Performers Day Five: Semifinals

On Tuesday night, four teams battled it out for a spot in the championship game of the City of Palms Classic. In the first contest, Oak Hill (VA) Academy pulled off a sensational upset over IMG (FL) Academy while Montverde (FL) Academy got their wheels churning late for a win over Milton (GA) High.

Oak Hill wins in a dogfight

What more could you want than an electric battle between national powerhouses Oak Hill Academy and IMG Academy? This one was close all night long, with 17 lead changes 12 ties. However, Oak Hill was able to scrape out a magnificent win, with a final score of 76-72.

Let’s start with the winning team of Oak Hill, who will progress to the championship game.

Chris Livingston and Judah Mintz were absolutely terrific for the Hill. Livingston was able to get to the rim per usual, finishing through some hard contact, and threw down some powerful dunks. He also went three for six from three-point range. Livingston finished with a team-high 22 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds. Mintz had a heck of a game as well, finishing 70% from the field and scoring a total of 19 points. Mintz is known as a scorer, but usually from mid-range. He did that as well, but I was most impressed by his ability to get to the rim and finish up and over his defender, especially through contact. He also did a good job of drawing fouls and also had a nice knock-down three-pointer off the bounce with the shot clock expiring.

Caleb Foster handled IMG’s defense well, leading his team with composure and making some hard plays at the rim. He was able to see his shot go down from deep and landed his mid-range jumper off the bounce.

IMG’s Keyonte George gets hot from deep, Jarace Walker is a man-child

Now for IMG. Keyonte George was tremendous and caught fire from three. He also had some crafty finishes around the rim to avoid a blocked shot. George finished with a team-high 24 points, on 8-of-14 from the field, and 6-of-9 from deep. He also grabbed nine boards.

Jarace Walker, man-oh-man. I’ve been impressed by Walker all week and at times he’s the best player on the floor. I love his mid-range game, fadeaway jumper, as well as his ability to lose his defender with a spin move and finish at the rim. He’s such an underrated passer and played well on the defensive end, swatting one into the stands. He was also able to get to the rim effectively with his strong body.

Jaden Bradley played tremendous on-ball defense and led his team as a floor general. He also made a clutch layup near the end of regulation.

Montverde pulls away and gets the win against Milton

First off, I have to give props to Milton. Their tallest player, LT Overton, is 6-foot-4. The average height of Montverde’s starting lineup is nearly 6-foot-8. Milton came out swinging and played with tons of effort. Montverde struggled to get things going offensively in the first half and trailed 23 to 24 heading into halftime. Thanks to some smooth three-point jumpers from Dariq Whitehead, paired with help from Jalen Hood-Schifino, Montverde entered the fourth quarter with a 41-35 lead.

Montverde was able to pull away in the fourth quarter to come away with the 59-44 win. Whitehead dropped 23 points, on 9-of-18 from the field, and 4-of-8 from three-point land. Hood-Schifino finished second in scoring with 12.