Christ School basketball splits at City of Palms

With a field of 10 state champions and a half-dozen likely McDonald's All-Americans, the 16-team City of Palms tournament had perhaps the best field of any holiday tournament in the country. That field included Christ School (Arden), the North Carolina Class 3A/Private champions, who won their fourth straight state title last year.

The Greenies returned Duke commitment Marshall Plumlee, BYU signee Damarcus Harrison and College of Charleston-bound Trevonte Dixon and finished sixth in the tournament with a 2-2 record.

They opened with a 77-62 win over New York City power Christ the King as all five starters scored in double figures, but the Greenies then fell to Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 59-54 in the quarterfinals. That game was tied with a minute left.

Christ School closed out better in its next game, shooting 60.9 percent in the second half to defeat Whitney Young (Chicago) 73-61 in the consolation bracket. Finally, Christ School lost the fifth-place game to local school Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) 86-77 despite a career-high 20 points from sophomore Justin Dotson.

QUINCY MILLER TO MISS SEASON
Westchester Country Day (High Point) was also at the City of Palms to compete in the four-team "Signature Series" bracket, but it was shorthanded after Baylor signee Quincy Miller suffered a season-ending knee injury before the tournament. The Wildcats fell 81-36 to St. Mark's (Southborough, Mass.) and 52-44 to Urspring (Ulm, Germany).

Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.