Montverde Academy boys beat Link Academy to win back-to-back GEICO Nationals championships

Since Dariq Whitehead first arrived at Montverde at age 13, he's been a part of a dominant run at the prestigious prep academy.

The No. 4 player in both the SI99 and the ESPN Top 100 for the class of 2022 was an up-and-coming role player  alongside the likes of now-NBA players RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes and Cade Cunningham.

So when the prized member of Duke's No. 1 recruiting class jumped around in celebration with his teammates on Saturday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena champions having just been crowned back-to-back GEICO Nationals champions, the win was especially meaningful for the 6-foot-4 point guard who came back his senior year at a time when players jump from school-to-school on a whim.

“It feels unreal," Whitehead told the ESPN broadcast. "Before my senior year started I promised [Montverde coach Kevin Boyle] I’d come back and win one more and that’s what I did. Just to know I lived up to that, will forever be with me.”

Some of the biggest contributions in Saturday's 60-49 win over first-year Link Academy came from players who helped them win it in 2021. Malik Reneau (Texas) and Jalen Hood-Schifino and Whitehead were role players as juniors, and stepped into the spotlight to continue to vault Montverde to historic heights.

No team has won GEICO Nationals as many times as Montverde (six) since the event started in 2009. Now-defunct Findlay Prep (2009-10) is the only other team to win it back-to-back. A Ben Simmons-led Montverde won three straight from 2013-15.

The Eagles' sixth national title had to come through an IMG Academy team it lost to twice already this season and a talent-laden Link Academy group determined to become the first team to win it in its first appearance.

Montverde opened as the preseason No. 1 team in the SBLive/SI Power 25, but was surpassed by IMG after losing to the in-state foe in early December. Montverde lingered in the top four all season, and there was hardly a doubt as to whether or not it could win it all, but it had four losses by mid-January — all against the current top-three teams.

"We thought everything was going downhill," Reneau told the ESPN broadcast after the game.

Saturday's win over McDonald's All-Americans Jordan Walsh (Arkansas) and Julian Phillips was a show of the same interior strength it used to beat AZ Compass Prep and IMG to get to the title.

Montverde outscored Link 16-6 in the paint in the first half and 32-14 total.

Texas-bound 6-7 forward Dillon Mitchell scored 17 points on 8 of 12 shooting and pulled down 12 boards for the Eagles. Reneau added 14 points and 12 rebounds, Whitehead finished with 14, six assists and four boards and Kwame Evans pitched in 11 points.

Link Academy was led by 16 points and eight boards from Phillips, who is the highest-rated uncommitted senior after de-committing from LSU when Will Wade was fired. Walsh, a prized member of Arkansas's No. 2 recruiting class in the country, was held to just four points after dominant showings in the quarters and semifinals.

Montverde led by as many as 13 in first half, but Link pulled within five at the midway point after Trey Green hit Phillips rolling to the basket in the final seconds.

The Lions answered one punch after another and didn’t cower when the defensively-suffocating Montverde forced 10 first half turnovers.

And they stayed close in the third. Green went around a high ball screen and hit a 3 to pull Link within one — 39-38 — around the three minute mark.

But Montverde never relinquished the lead down the  stretch. Whitehead hit back-to-back buckets to push Montverde ahead 55-49 with 1:45 left and sealed the  game with a pair of free throws in the final seconds.

PHOTO GALLERY

(All photos by Annette Wilkerson)