Orlando basketball: Sensabaugh eyes NBA; Montverde in GEICO tourney; DP girls in national invitational

Brice Sensabaugh, the 2021-22 Orlando area and state player of the year for Lake Highland Prep, announced Saturday that he could be headed to the NBA after one season of college basketball at Ohio State.

“After steady thought and consideration, I am excited to announce I have decided to enter my name into the 2023 NBA Draft with the option to return to OSU,” Sensabaugh stated in a social media post.

He has not relinquished NCAA eligibility and new rules give Sensabaugh until June 12 to decide which path he will take. That is 10 days ahead of the June 22 NBA Draft.

The 6-foot-6, 235-pound freshman forward averaged 16.3 points and 5.4 rebounds for an Ohio State team that had a disappointing 16-19 season. Sensabaugh made 40.5% of his 3-point shot attempts (60 of 148).

Sensabaugh averaged 25.1 points as a Lake Highland senior and won the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award.

Buddy Collings

Montverde eyes GEICO repeats

Montverde Academy’s boys and girls basketball teams are top seeds for the nationally-televised GEICO High School Nationals tournament, which will be played Thursday through Saturday in Fort Myers.

Both are looking to defend 2022 titles.

The national No. 1 Eagles boys team (23-2) has won the GEICO title the past two years and seeks its seventh championship in 12 tries since 2013. Montverde’s stacked roster, with seven players ranked in the top 35 of their class, makes it the favorite going into a Thursday 6 p.m. quarterfinal (ESPNU) against conference rival Sunrise Christian of Kansas (20-7).

Montverde seniors 6-9 Kwame Evans (Oregon) and 6-8 Sean Stewart (Duke) are top 20 Class of 2023 prospects and both are set to play in Tuesday night’s McDonald’s All-American game at the Toyota Center in Houston at 9 (ESPN).

Derik Queen and Liam McNeeley are top 10 juniors and Montverde sophomore Cooper Flagg is rated No. 2 in the Class of 2025.

A victory would send the Eagles to a Friday 4:30 p.m. semifinal (ESPN2). The championship game is Saturday at noon (ESPNU).

Other teams in the field are Link Academy of Missouri, which was last season’s runner-up to Montverde, New York state champ Long Island Lutheran, Prolific Prep (Calif.), St. Paul VI (Va.), AZ Compass Prep (Ariz.), and IMG Academy of Bradenton.

The Montverde girls (24-1), led in scoring (11.2 ppg.), assists (3.2) and steals (4.7) by Mississippi State recruit Miracle Sheppard, plays Pennsylvania champ Westtown (21-4) at 12:30 p.m. in a Friday semifinal (ESPNU.

Buddy Collings

DP goes national

The girls basketball season continues next week for back-to-back Florida High School Athletic Association Class 7A state champion Dr. Phillips.

The Panthers, winners of 50 of 52 games since December 2021, play on the national stage at the State Champions Invitational in Washington D.C.

DP (30-1) faces Las Vegas Centennial (24-1) on Thursday, April 6 at 2 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPN+. Centennial ranks No. 21 nationally in the ESPN SCNext Top 25.

The winner matches up with No. 2 Sidwell Friends (28-3) of D.C. on April 7 at 2 p.m. on ESPNU. The championship game is scheduled for April 8 at 10 a.m.

The Panthers are the lone entry that is outside the Top 25. The field includes No. 9 Lone Peak (23-3) of Utah, No. 19 Desert Vista (28-3) of Arizona and No. 23 Morris Catholic (28-3) of New Jersey.

Dr. Phillips head coach Anthony Jones was named Florida Dairy Farmers coach of the year on Monday. Jones, a 5-time state champion, led the program to two GIECO Nationals tournament wins in three years from 2011-13.

Junior guard Trinity Turner, the 7A player of the year, finished second in voting for the overall award to St. Johns Country Day senior Taliah Scott, who averaged 36.2 points per game.

DP returns to D.C. for the second time this season. The Panthers suffered a 64-61 loss vs. Georgetown Visitation Prep (24-6) in December.

Miami Columbus (26-4), Florida’s repeat Class 7A boys state title team, was projected to be one of the favorites in the boys State Champions event, but the Explorers opted out of that six-team field.

Instead, Columbus is participating in a new national tournament, The Throne, which is backed by the NBA Players Association. That 16-team event, Wednesday through Saturday at Morehouse College in Atlanta, will be streamed on the FOX Sports Network, NBA TV and the NBA App.

J.C. Carnahan

Dairy Farmers awards

Orlando area schools were shut out of the 2023 Dairy Farmers boys basketball honors.

The players of the year by classification were superb sophomore Cameron Boozer of Columbus (7A), Miami Southridge senior Koree Cotton (6A), Wesley Chapel junior Trey Murray (5A), Villages Charter senior Sam Walters (4A), Tampa Catholic junior Karter Knox (3A), Crossroad Academy senior Kris Parker (2A), and Hawthorne sophomore CJ Ingram (1A).

Buddy Collings

This report was first published at Orlandosentinel.com. Varsity Content Editor Buddy Collings can be reached by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.

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