Basketball Recap: St. John Paul II Academy Drops Season-High Score on Palm Beach Gardens

Eagles

Team Score

01/16/25 vs Palm Beach Gardens	81
12/17/24 vs Katz Yeshiva	77
11/25/24 @ Cocoa	75
12/11/24 vs Cardinal Newman	74
11/26/24 @ Odyssey Charter School	71

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask St. John Paul II Academy). They walked away with an 81-68 win over the Palm Beach Gardens Gators on Thursday. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Eagles' disadvantage in MaxPreps' Florida basketball rankings (they are ranked 369th, while the Gators are ranked 170th).

It was another big night for Dior Johnson, who went 11 for 21 en route to 31 points and four steals. That's the most points he has posted since back in December of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Nick Durham, who went 6 of 9 on his way to 14 points.

Palm Beach Gardens lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Montray Coley, who went 5 for 7 en route to 10 points and seven rebounds. Enorck Vincent was another key player, going 6 of 13 on his way to 16 points and five boards.

St. John Paul II Academy's record now sits at 11-9. As for Palm Beach Gardens, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 11-6.

St. John Paul II Academy wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 69-53 win against Lake Worth Christian on the 17th. As for Palm Beach Gardens, they will challenge Saint Andrew's at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Saint Andrew's will roll in looking for their 12th straight victory, something Palm Beach Gardens surely won't give up without a fight.