It’s a good thing Central Florida Christian Academy jumped out to a 13-0 start against Orlando Christian Prep in the Winter Park Rotary Tipoff Classic basketball championship game Saturday night. The Eagles needed every bit of the cushion.
OCP came storming back, scoring the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to take its first lead of the game, 39-38, but the Warriors couldn’t finish. After the 12-0 run to start the final period, OCP would score only once more in the final 2:47 of the game, as CFCA squeaked out a 44-41 victory.
Senior Alexander Dipaulo was the star for CFCA. He scored the first seven Eagles points, and 11 of the first 13 points and CFCA bolted to a 17-2 lead after the first quarter.
Dipaulo ended the game with 20 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
“Dipaulo, he does a little bit of everything for us,” CFCA coach Albert Settles said. “He guards the best player, we ask him to score at three different levels, be a playmaker, so , obviously for us, he’s the most valuable player on our team.
“He’s also the most selfless player on the team so its easy for the guys to follow his lead.”
While CFCA was scoring OCP was not. The Warriors started out frigid and the troubles were obvious when three OCP players came down with three straight offensive rebounds and missed the put-back on each one. OCP missed it’s first even field goal attempts.
“You can’t spot a quality team 15 points, so being down 17-2, kind of has you constantly trying to get momentum, get momentum and it’s just hard,” Burke said. “If your’re down 15 against them it’s gonna be hard to come back from.”
But the Warriors did it. OCP started the fourth quarter down 38-27, but Roman Mathieu jump started the Warriors with a steal and layup to ignite the rally.
But CFCA was able to hold on down the stretch to knock off their new rival, which they will see again this season in district play, and likely in the postseason. Jayden Strader led OCP with 11 points.
“We potentially play them two more times, maybe three … this is kind of like a boxing match. … We kinda feel out for each other,” Settles said. “Some things they do well, some things we could get better … it’s a rivalry, district opponent so every single game we’ll have to come ready.”
Third-place Game: Osceola 48, Winter Park 38
The homestanding Wildcats tried to rally from a 33-24 deficit late. Jagger Miller buried a 3-pointer as the third-quarter buzzer sounded, and the Wildcats carried the momentum into the fourth.
Winter Park scraped away at the lead and got within 40-36 with 2:12 remaining, but it could manage only two free throws the rest of the way.
Osceola was led by Luke Mccrimon’s 23 points and Jahmel Hill had 9. Will Ryan led Winter Park with 17 points.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
