Windermere Prep advances to Rock Holiday Classic championship

WINDERMERE — Isaiah Curry scored 19 points, including two pivotal buckets late in the fourth quarter, in helping to lead the Windermere Prep Lakers past St. Pius X (Ga.), 64-58, and into the final of their Rock Holiday Classic tournament.

Curry also amassed 10 rebounds in the victory, which placed the host Lakers (9-5) in Tuesday’s championship game at 8 p.m., where they will take on Winter Park (10-3).

“I thought (Curry) was a monster in the middle of the paint for us,” Windermere Prep coach Ben Wilson said.

The contest was knotted up at 58-58 with under two minutes to play when Xeo Golding knocked down a short jump shot to give the Lakers a lead they would not relinquish. The final 6-0 swing for Windermere Prep ended a back-and-forth game in which the Lakers found themselves trailing by double-digits, 17-7, after one quarter.

“We knew coming into it … they’re a really tough team,” Wilson said of St. Pius X (9-2). “They shoot the ball well, I think they hit seven or eight 3’s against us in the first half — and then in the first quarter we couldn’t score.”

Windermere Prep cut the to two by halftime, 32-30, and trailed by just a point after three quarters, 47-46. The Lakers ramped up the pressure on defense after the lackluster opening quarter to help spur their productivity on the other end of the floor.

“We kind of like to always stress that when things aren’t going right on offense, let’s just zero in defensively and let our defense feed our offense,” Wilson said. “From there we were able to get some stops and that kind of got their confidence going.”

Junior point guard Parker Davis added 14 points to pair with Curry’s 19. Michael Stones had 11 points for Windermere Prep and Xeo Golding chipped in 10 points. 

St. Pius X, which will play Deerfield Beach tomorrow for third place, made 10 3-pointers on the night.