Montverde downs Zion Lutheran by 19

Written BY GARY SHARP
gsharp@news-press.com

James Bell scored 34 points and Justin Jackson added 16 on Saturday to lead Montverde Academy to a 72-53 victory over Deerfield Beach Zion Lutheran in a Sunshine State Series game at the Bishop Verot gymnasium.

"I'm stronger than most guys,'' said Bell, a 6-foot-5 junior who hit 12 of 20 shots and 6 of 8 free throws, and was 4-of-8 on 3-pointers. "With faith in the system and my strength, it made it easy.''

Montverde (8-3) used a strong final quarter to put the game away after Zion Lutheran used a late third-quarter rally to close to within eight at 51-43. The teams exchanged baskets to start the fourth quarter, then Montverde - a Florida independent team - went on a 7-0 run to begin pulling away. It outscored Zion Lutheran 21-10 in the quarter and was not threatened down the stretch.

David Joseph topped Zion Lutheran (9-1), ranked third in Class A, with 20 points. Renaldo Dixon finished with 19.

Montverde ended by shooting 49 percent from the field (26 of 53). Zion Lutheran hit 41 percent (19 of 46).

Zion Lutheran 14 6 23 10 - 53

Montverde Academy 17 19 15 21 - 72

Zion Lutheran: David Joseph 8-23 1-3 20, Ante Gospic 3-6 0-0 8, Charles Williams 2-5 2-4 6, Renaldo Dixon 6-8 7-8 19, C.J. Fann 0-3 0-0 0, Michael Mancini 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 19-46 10-15 53.

Montverde: Kaleb Clyburn 1-3 0-0 3, Papa Samba Ndao 2-12 0-0 6, Justin Jackson 7-10 2-5 16, James Bell 12-20 6-8 34, Rob Chubb 1-3 2-2 4, Pierre Bakinde 0-2 0-0 0, Tee Jae Persad 0-0 0-0 0, Dmitry Zimin 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Diatta 0-0 0-0 0, Marek Legorce-Ross 2-2 2-2 7, Will Corps 1-1 0-0 2, Ruslan Pateev 0-0 0-0 0, Yoshi Kodate 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-53 12-17 72.

3-pointers: Zion 5-14 (Joseph 3-8, Gospic 2-3, Mancini 0-1, Fann 0-2), Montverde 8-21(Bell 4-8, Ndao 2-9, Clyburn 1-1, Legorce-Ross 1-1, Bakinde 0-2). Rebounds: Zion 23 (Dixon 8, Joseph 5), Montverde 26 (Jackson 6, Bell 6, Chubb 4). Fouls: Zion 14, Montverde 15. Fouled out: Chubb. Assists: Zion 5 (Joseph 3), Montverde 18 (Clyburn 12). Blocks: Zion 2 (Williams 1, Dixon 1), Montverde 4 (Jackson 3, Bell 1). Steals: Zion 4 (Joseph 2, Dixon 2), Montverde 9 (Clyburn 3, Bell 2, Diatta 2). Turnovers: Zion 14, Montverde 9.