City of Palms Classic: No. 1 Montverde Academy downs No. 5 IMG Academy in title game

Video: Cade Cunningham highlights

Top-ranked Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) captured its fourth City of Palms Classic championship since 2012, overcoming an early deficit to defeat No. 5 IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) 63-55 in the title game Monday night in Fort Myers, Fla.

Tournament MVP Scottie Barnes (Florida State commit) led a balanced effort for the Eagles, finishing with 15 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Other top contributors for the Sunshine State powerhouse included North Carolina pledge Day'Ron Sharpe (15 points, seven rebounds), Dariq Whitehead (12 points, four rebounds) and Oklahoma State-bound Cade Cunningham, who finished with seven points, six rebounds and four assists despite battling foul trouble.

Tennessee signee Jaden Springer led IMG Academy with 16 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

The No. 1 high school basketball team in the country was dominant in its City of Palms Classic championship run, defeating four quality opponents by an average of 30.3 points per contest. The Eagles opened the tournament with an 81-45 win over Sanford (Hockessin, Del.), followed by an impressive 82-56 triumph over Whitney Young (Chicago) in the quarterfinals and a 99-48 throttling of 2018 champion No. 21 McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.) in the semifinals.

The Eagles are now 28-5 all-time at the City of Palms Classic and have captured four titles over the past eight years.

Montverde Academy (10-0) travels to the John Wall Holiday Invitational in Raleigh, N.C., this week, opening play against Durham Academy (Durham, N.C.) on Dec. 27.

IMG Academy (7-2) has the week off before traveling to the ARS/Rescue Rooter National Hoopfest to take on Memphis East (Memphis, Tenn.) and Briarcrest Christian (Eads, Tenn.) on Jan. 3 and 4, respectively.