High school basketball: No. 2 Long Island Lutheran races past No. 4 Link Academy 76-63 in City of Palms semifinals

FORT MYERS, FLA. — In a battle of National Top 10 teams, No. 2 Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.) ran past No. 4 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) 76-63 behind 17 points, seven assists, six steals and five rebounds from top 10 senior V.J. Edgecombe in the City of Palms Classic semifinals Friday night.

Long Island Lutheran (8-0) advances to tomorrow's City of Palms Classic title game where they will face off against National Top 10 No. 1 Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) at 9 p.m. eastern standard time on ESPNU.

The Crusaders led the semifinal tilt wire-to-wire as they jumped all over Link Academy early to lead 22-6 after the first quarter.

LuHi maintained their comfortable lead throughout the majority of the contest, leading 42-26 at the half before stretching their advantage to 62-41 at the end of the third period.

Although the Lions cut the deficit in the final two minutes of the nightcap, the game was never in doubt in the fourth quarter.

Along with Edgecombe, the Crusaders saw four players reach double-figures as top 100 junior Nigel James chipped in 13 points and three rebounds, three-star junior Kayden Mingo finished with 11 points and three assists and under-the-radar junior forward Tajae Jones had 10 points and six rebounds in the victory.

Three Link Academy players were tied for the team-high in scoring as five-star Texas signee Tre Johnson, four-star Kansas signee Labaron Philon and four-star Arkansas signee Jalen Shelley each tallied 13 points in the loss.

Link Academy (12-3) are set to face off against MaxPreps Top 25 No. 1 Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) in the City of Palms Classic third place game tomorrow at 7 p.m.