Montverde Academy, Link Academy to meet in GEICO Nationals championship: How they got here, top storylines, how to watch
Link Academy entered the GEICO Nationals in its first season as a program with the goal of being the first team to win it all on its first try.
The 4-seeded Lions of Branson, Mo. are one step away in its first year as a varsity high school program.
Link took down tournament darling Prolific Prep 59-53 in the semifinals on Friday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers, Fla., booking a date in Saturday's title game against defending champ Montverde Academy, which beat IMG Academy 62-57 in Friday's semis.
If Link wins on Saturday, it will become the first team to win GEICOs in its first appearance. Montverde has won the event four times.
The championship takes place at 9 a.m. PT Saturday, is televised on ESPN and will feature a long list of high-major Division I talent.
Here are some observations and storylines from the tournament:
Dariq Whitehead backs up national POY honors
Dariq Whitehead was already having a good week.
The 6-foot-6 forward, a consensus top-five prospect headed to Duke, followed up receiving Naismith National Player of the Year honors and being named McDonald's All-American Game MVP by leading Montverde back to the GEICO National finals.
Montverde beat IMG Academy for the first time this season after losing to the fellow Florida basketball academy 65-64 on Dec. 3, then again 57-53 in January.
Whitehead finished with 21 points on 50 percent shooting. And Montverde overcome a strong showing from Baylor-bound guard Keyontae George, who finished with 21 points and four 3s on 50 percent overall shooting.
Prolific Prep's Cinderella run come to an end
Photo by Annette Wilkerson
Few thought Prolific Prep would even get out of the first round of its first GEICO appearance.
Instead, it became the story of the tournament.
With its two McDonald's All-Americans Adem Bona (UCLA) and MJ Rice (Kansas) sidelined with injuries, Prolific Prep dug deep and found contributions elsewhere.
In Thursday's upset of Sunrise Christian, Oregon State-bound Jordan Pope had 23 points, including five 3s, and Tre White had 17 in a David-vs.-Goliath upset of the top-seeded Buffaloes.
On Friday the USC-bound White stole the show. His 25 points — and 10 for 10 free throw shooting — helped Prolific Prep stay close.
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Jordan Walsh in a league of his own
Photo by Annette Wilkerson
Link coach Rodney Perry made an emphatic point that his two McDonald's All-Americans Jordan Walsh and Julian Phillips needed to step up if the team was to make a deep run.
Walsh has been the player of the tournament so far. He followed up 23 points, eight boards and seven assists in the opening round by putting up 17 points on 5 of 8 shooting and seven boards in a semifinal win over Prolific Prep.
His size at 6-8 was a factor in Link scoring 13 second-chance points to Prolific Prep's three. Simply put, the five-star Arkansas pledge and McDonald's All-American has risen to the occasion and put forth two dominant performances.
On Friday, Walsh struggled in the first half, posting two points and coughing up five turnovers, but woke up after halftime. He stole the ball on the opponent's baseline and accelerated for a coast-to-coast dunk in the fourth quarter. He grabbed a rebound around the rim and put it back to put Link up seven with four minutes to go.
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(All photos by Annette Wilkerson)
