Montverde (Fla.) advances with record rout of Socastee in first round

With its first-round performance Saturday, Montverde (Fla.) has already found its way into the Beach Ball Classic record book.

The Eagles dominated Socastee from start to finish en route to a 99-21 win, which is the highest margin of victory (78 points) in the history of the tournament – a record that stood since 1987 (Archbishop Molloy, 69 points).

“They have a really, really good basketball team. This is my seventh time coaching in the Beach Ball Classic, and that is as long, athletic and as good of a shooting team that I have ever seen here,” Braves coach DeAndre Scott said. “They just have a really good basketball team; I don’t know what else to say other than that.”

Montverde is the No. 1 squad in the country, according to the USA Today Super 25 Expert Rankings, and suffered its lone loss to No. 2 Chino Hills (Calif.) in the City of Palms Classic (Fort Myers, Fla.) quarterfinals on Monday. But now, Montverde has won three straight and will look to keep rolling during its time in Myrtle Beach.

“That was a tough loss. Ever since then, we’ve had kind of a chip on our shoulder and I think that showed today,” said Montverde senior Micah Potter, an Ohio State signee. “We played together, played really hard and encouraged each other out there and came up with the big win.”

Potter led the way with 12 points and four rebounds, Simi Shittu scored 12, Silvio De Sousa had 10 points and five rebounds, Anfernee Simons contributed 10 points and EJ Montgomery chipped in nine to round out the Eagles’ balanced attack.

“Our team really is balanced; we have a lot of guys that are close,” said Montverde coach Kevin Boyle, a four-time National Coach of the Year. “Our guards have gotten better handling the ball and we’ve played against some more experienced teams, so hopefully we can adjust.”

It didn’t take the Eagles long to adjust Saturday as they opened the game on a 22-0 run and never looked back. Montverde entered halftime with a 54-11 advantage, and outscored Socastee 45-10 in the second half.

The Braves shot just 14 percent (5-for-37), turned the ball over 31 times and were outscored 51-5 in points off turnovers. Junior center Jason Cudd had a team-high seven points to go with a game-high seven rebounds to pace Socastee.

“Socastee is always a good program. Obviously this year they don’t have the talent level to match up against our team,” Boyle said. “We’re fortunate to have a lot of good players and we haven’t lost much in the last few years. Hopefully we can continue to get some consistency.”

Scott believes Montverde can keep it up.

“Every coach in this thing, including ones from the local teams, will say the same thing: This is the best team we’re going to play all year and obviously that’s true,” Scott said of the Eagles. “Playing those guys is definitely something we’ll learn from; I like when my kids play that kind of talent. You don’t see that normally, so some of the things you can’t do against [Montverde], you will be able to do when you get back to your normal schedule. It is what it is.”

Montverde will get two days off before returning to action Tuesday in the second round. Potter and Co. have high hopes moving forward.

“We want to win that championship,” Potter said. “That’s what we’re looking forward to most.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2015 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Montverde (Fla.) advances with record rout of Socastee in first round."