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FORT MYERS, Fla. - No. 4 Montverde Academy won their record fifth City of Palms Classic title on Wednesday night, beating No. 20 Oak Hill Academy (Virginia) 60-55 at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. 

It is also the second consecutive City of Palms title for the Eagles. They won in 2019 and the tournament wasn't played in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Montverde senior forward and future Texas Longhorn Dillon Mitchell took home tournament MVP honors, as he finished with a team-high 16 points and 9 rebounds, including a huge alley-oop dunk from Indiana commit Jalen Hood-Schifino to put the Eagles up 55-52 with nine seconds to play.

Florida commit Malik Reneau added 12 points, along with Duke commit Dariq Whitehead finishing with 12 for the Eagles.

Judah Mintz finished with a game-high 22 points for the Warriors. Duke commit Caleb Foster and Kentucky commit Chris Livingston each added 10 for Oak Hill Academy.

The turning point in the game came at the 6:36 mark of the fourth quarter, when Oak Hill had a three-point lead at 44-41. Coming out of a timeout, the Eagles responded with a 7-2 run to take a 48-46 lead with 3:23 to play. 

With 51 seconds left in the game, the Warriors cut the deficit to 53-52 but that was as close as they would get.

Hood-Schifino eventually put the game on ice, hitting a pair of clutch free throws to make it a two-possession game for the Eagles.

Oak Hill Academy will return to action on Jan. 6 vs Wasatch Academy (Utah).

Montverde Academy will return to action on Jan. 6 vs Sunrise Christian (Kansas).

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