We headed across town for the second night of district tournament action to take in games at Faith Christian Academy in Class 3A, District 3 in Orlando. Legacy Charter of Ocoee defeated Winter Garden Foundation Academy on Monday night, advancing to play top-seed Orlando Christian Prep. In the second semi-final, host school Faith Christian Academy took on Mount Dora Christian Academy, both having 21 wins on the season heading into the contest.
Orlando Christian Prep (#1) vs. Legacy Charter (#5)
After taking on one of the most difficult schedules in the state, OCP came in with a 15-9 record. However, playoff time is business time for OCP, and the Warriors came out all business to start the contest. They put together an 8-0 run to start the contest and found themselves up by ten at 18-8 heading into the second quarter. OCP was even more impressive in the second eight minutes as they scored 29 points to Legacy’s 14 to make it a 25 point game at the half, 47-22.
OCP scored the first eleven points of the third quarter, the last of them being a three pointer from Ronaldo Segu to put them up 58-22. That kicked in the running clock for the remainder of the game. OCP advanced to the championship game in dominating fashion as expected, 81-33.
C.J. Walker led OCP with 17 points while McDonald’s All-American and UNC signee Nassir Little added 14 points. Kai Jones talied 11 points and Dejuan Lockett also reached double figures with 10 points.
Faith Christian Academy (#2) vs. Mount Dora Christian Academy (#3)
As the host school and #2 seed, Faith Christian had a slight advantage coming into the contest. The visiting Bulldogs had other plans. Just 6-4 after four minutes of play, MDCA unleashed an onslaught of threes, most of them by Taylor Trudeau, to go up nine at 16-7 after one quarter of play. That hot shooting continued for the Bulldogs in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Faith was having trouble getting untracked on the offensive end as MDCA was playing solid, half-court man-to-man defense. When the halftime horn sounded, MDCA was up by ten at 31-21.
Things changed at the start of the third quarter. Faith ripped off an 8-0 run in just under two minutes to climb to within two at 31-29 before MDCA called a timeout. Faith would ultimately tie the score at 33 and took their first lead of the game on their next possession at 35-33 with just under four minutes to go in the quarter and looked primed to assume control of the contest. That isn’t what happened. The Bulldogs regrouped and finished the period on an 11-3 run to go up six at 44-38 with one more quarter to play.
MDCA continued their roll in the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to push their lead into double-digits at 51-40 with just over six minutes to play. Faith Christian would get to within five at 58-53 with two minutes to play but the Bulldogs were able to convert at the free throw line to advance to the district tournament title game by the score of 71-62.
MDCA was led by Trudeau with 29 points. Both Joseph Martz and Henrik Hofman added 13 points while Edwin Chatman tallied 10 points.
Faith Christian received 22 points from Jonah Wilson and 16 points from Jalen Smith.
The district coaches presented the Player of the Year and All-District 1st and 2nd Teams at the end of the first contest and half-time of the second.
Player of the Year: Nassir Little, senior, Orlando Christian Prep
First Team All-District
Taylor Trudeau, junior, Mount Dora Christian Academy
Jalen Smith, freshman, Faith Christian Academy
Ronaldo Segu, senior, Orlando Christian Prep
Joseph Martz, senior, Mount Dora Christian Academy
C.J. Walker, junior, Orlando Christian Prep
Second Team All-District
Francis Agbata, senior, Faith Christian Academy
Jonah Wilson, senior, Faith Christian Academy
Nathaniel Rodriguez, junior, Legacy Charter
Dylan Clinger, senior, Legacy Charter
DeJuan Lockett, senior Orlando Christian Prep