High school basketball: No. 1 Link Academy captures Bass Pro Shops title with 72-66 win over No. 4 Sunrise Christian

No. 1 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) remained undefeated after winning the 38th Annual Bass Pro Shops Tournament of Champions over No. 4 Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 72-66 on Saturday at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo.

Link Academy (18-0) never relinquished the lead after going on a 7-0 run in the second quarter.

Five-star Baylor commit Ja'Kobe Walter led Link Academy with 17 points while Elliot Cadeau added 16. Cade Phillips chipped in 13, including a highlight slam dunk.

Five-star senior Matas Buzelis led Sunrise Christian (12-4) with 24 points and six rebounds while five-star Arkansas commit Layden Blocker contributed 16 points.

Sunrise Christian jumped out to an 11-10 first quarter lead as four-star Ohio State commit Scotty Middleton had four points and Blocker had a 3-pointer.

Middleton scored the first basket of the second quarter before Link Academy scored seven straight points. Five-star North Carolina commit Cadeau tossed up an alley-opp that four-star LSU commit Corey Chest Jr. caught and threw down to tie up the game. Cadeau then hit two consecutive shots, including a 3-pointer, to give Link its biggest lead of the evening.

Link led by as many as seven in the second quarter before taking a 31-25 lead into intermission.

In the third quarter, Link tried to pull away, leading by as many as nine, but Buzelis kept Sunrise in the game with 11 of his 24 points in the quarter. Link took a 48-42 lead into the final frame.

The Lions extended their lead to 10 in the fourth quarter and held off a comeback attempt by Sunrise to win the tournament.

In the semifinals, Link defeated Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) 55-44 as Cadeau led the way with 14 points. In the first round, the Lions beat St. Rita (Chicago) 74-52 with Walter scoring 18 points.

Sunrise Christian topped Calvary Christian (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 52-41 in the semifinals behind a double-double from five-star senior center John Bol. In the first round, the Buffaloes took down Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.) 68-35 with a balanced scoring performance.