The general consensus among Nike EYBL Scholastic coaches at the Dr. Pepper Classic and the LuHi Invitational this weekend was centered around elevating their respective team’s level of play as the conference tournament looms next month.
To that end, nine league teams went to war in Brookville, N.Y. and Chattanooga, Tenn., causing a shake-up in the league’s pecking order.
Top-ranked SPIRE Academy opened with a blockbuster matchup against No. 6 Montverde Academy, where SPIRE head coach Kevin Boyle reigned supreme for 14 years.
Still, in the end it was the Eagles who emerged victorious with the 66-52 upset win over SPIRE.
What was their recipe for success?
Montverde got 22 points and 12 rebounds from Dhani Miller, scored 26 second-chance points and held SPIRE to 21.1 percent from three.
No. 8 Wasatch Academy was even more impressive, knocking off the host Crusaders 64-52 after pumping in 40 points in the paint and going clutch from the free-throw line at 89 percent. Vuk Lazarevic led a balanced attack with 16 points and six rebounds.
The Tigers got a marquee win in game two, taking down No. 11 Brewster Academy 62-51 after finishing plus-22 in the paint and getting 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Junior County, a Connecticut signee.
Wasatch finished its stellar weekend with a 58-43 win over Christ School.
“We realized how tough we are,” Wasatch coach Paul Peterson said. “I feel like we’ve had the identity of team-first basketball, tough-nosed, gritty, defensive minded. That’s what we wanna be known for, being blue collar. We’re gonna work on getting healthy and then we’re just gonna sharpen our tools.”
No. 16 La Lumiere School put on a 3-point shooting clinic in its 81-75 win over Oak Hill Academy, connecting on 12 of 28 from the perimeter.
Jonathan Sanderson, a Notre Dame signee, led the way for the Lakers with 20 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
“We were able to get it done because we strung together enough stops in the second half,” La Lumiere coach Patrick Holmes said. “We were scoring enough; it just came down to would we get enough stops down the stretch. Our guys had the mental toughness to chip away. I’m really proud of how our guys battled and stayed together.”
Here’s a rundown of how teams fared over the weekend:
Wasatch Academy 3-0
La Lumiere School 1-0
Oak Hill Academy 1-1
SPIRE Academy 1-1
St. James Academy 0-2
Brewster Academy 1-1
Long Island Lutheran 1-2
Christ School 0-2
Currently, 9 teams are ranked in the ESPN SCNext High School Top 25 for Week 10:
1. SPIRE Academy
3. AZ Compass Prep
5. Link Academy
6. Montverde Academy
8. Wasatch Academy
9. CIA Bella Vista Prep
11. Brewster Academy
16. La Lumiere School
19. Faith Family Academy
For in-depth coverage of Nike EYBL Scholastic, including highlights and exclusive content, follow @NikeEYB and @league.ready on Instagram and @NikeEYB and @LeagueRDY on X.