Boys basketball: CFCA upsets Mount Dora Christian in regional quarterfinals

WEST ORANGE Most nights, Jerred Treacy is not the leading scorer for the CFCA Eagles.

That distinction usually is earned either by the team's leading scorer for the season, junior Jacob Newman, or Jerred Treacy's younger brother, sophomore Dante Treacy.

In the Eagles' biggest game of the season, though, it was  Jerred Treacy — one of just two seniors on the team's roster — who shone brightest. Jerred Treacy scored a team-high 20 points, including CFCA's first basket of the game that helped spark an 11-0 run in the contest's opening minutes.

The Eagles (17-11) never surrendered that lead, instead building upon it and ultimately defeating Mount Dora Christian Academy, 68-47, in the regional quarterfinals of the Class 2A State Playoffs.

"Jerred has really, really grown as a basketball player and how he approaches the first five minutes of a basketball game," head coach Jonathan McClintock said afterward. "When he starts well, it really lifts our team."

Jerred Treacy scored two of the Eagles' first five baskets — baskets that comprised an 11-0 run that knocked MDCA (26-2) on its heels.

"Our very first game of the season, they came out and beat us," Jerred Treacy said, referencing a Nov. 19 game that CFCA lost to MDCA, 74-64. "For us to come out like that — the momentum was our way — we played a good game."

While Jerred Treacy was firing on all cylinders on one end of the floor, Dante Treacy was performing an equally important task on the other – guarding the state's leading scorer. Dante Treacy was assigned standout Mark Gordon, who — though he would finish with a game-high 32 points — was unable to get into a true rhythm that might threaten the Eagles' lead.

"Dante does whatever it takes to win — he's a winner," McClintock said.

CFCA also benefitted from strong nights from eighth-grader Visual Russell, who scored 18 points, and Newman, who tallied 11 points. 

The Eagles will now host the Orlando Christian Prep Warriors — whom they have played twice before this season, splitting those two contests— in a winner-takes-all third meeting. The Class 2A Region 2 Semifinal will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 16.

Though CFCA won the most recent meeting, in the district final, McClintock knows he and his staff will have their work cut out for them in preparing for Tuesday's showdown.

"OCP is well-coached, they've got a ton of good basketball players," McClintock said. "We really have to emphasize doing the little things ... there's really not a lot of margin for error with them."

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].