George Kimble, Donnie Morris lead Berkeley Prep to dominant district win over Tampa Prep

TAMPA, Fla.- It was senior night for Berkeley Prep's boys basketball team and the veteran players showed out for the Buccaneers. 

Berkeley Prep senior George Kimble and junior Donnie Morris combined for 38 points and helped lift the Buccaneers to a 68-49 victory over the visiting Tampa Prep Terrapins Thursday night in a Class 3A, District 9 matchup. The Buccaneers improved to 20-2 and the Terrapins dropped to 18-3.

"Anytime you come out and play on senior night, as a coach you always have concerns about focus," Berkeley Prep head coach Renaldo Garcia said. "I thought for the most part, our kids were able to come out and be focused. I thought defensively, that was a unit we usually don't start off with. I'm really happy about the kids coming out and playing hard. Battling and fighting through adversity."

Coming off a 69-35 victory over Mitchell a couple nights ago, Berkeley Prep looked ready for district tournament play next week. From the outset, Kimble (18 points) and Willmitch helped set the tone. 

After the game was notched at 2-2, Jackson Willmitch connected on his first 3-point attempt of the evening. The senior shooting guard finished the evening with nine points. Kimble, who just recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his prep career, was the defensive tone setter. He guarded for most of the night Tampa Prep's Robert Parker (six points). 

The game looked like it might get out of hand in the opening quarter with Berkeley Prep going up 19-8. The Terrapins worked themselves back into the game, going on a 7-0 run to make it 19-15 to start the second period. 

It wouldn't be too long for Berkeley Prep to rebuild its lead back to double digits. Back to back 3-pointers by 8th grader Gabe Grimsely (nine points) gave the Buccaneers a 29-17 lead in the second. By halftime, the Buccaneers led 33-23 and started to take full control of the contest. 

Buckets on consecutive possessions by Morris put the Buccaneers ahead 39-25 before Tampa Prep made a short run. They key sequence to end the third period as the Buccaneers got a 3-pointer from Willmitch and a give-and-go from Kimble to Morris to make it 50-36. Morris finished with a team-high 20 points. 

The fourth quarter featured multiple 3-pointers from senior small forward Damien Henderson (six points) and Berkeley Prep pulling away. The Buccaneers end the regular season playing in the Bartow Stinger Shootout this weekend. 

"(Tampa Prep) is a really good team," Garcia added. "They drive the ball well. To be able to come out here and get through that, I was pretty proud about the way the guys responded. We were able to get some easy baskets because the guys attacked and made some plays. I thought Tampa Prep did a good job answering a lot of those baskets."

Leading Tampa Prep in scoring on the night was Brooks, with a team-high 21 points. The Terrapins still have games upcoming against Tampa Freedom and Carrollwood Day. 

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.