DELAND — The Master’s Academy boys basketball team made a remarkable rally in the final two minutes to give the Eagles a 66-65 victory over host DeLand High School (7-3) in the Championship Game of the Gus Gibbs Memorial Tournament at DeLand High School.
The Eagles (8-3) were down 10 points with two minutes to play, but the guests were able to pull out the victory when Josh Pitts, who led TMA with 17 points, converted a free throw with 0.9-seconds showing on the clock.
Jack Kaley (13 points), Micah Taber (12) and Xander Bluhm (11) also finished in double figure scoring for the champs.
TMA had opened the tournament with a 64-50 victory over Port Orange-Atlantic on Thursday behind 20 points from Kaley, 24 points from Hunter Nickerson and a near double-double of 11 points and eight rebounds from Bluhm.
The Eagles then reached the finals with a 91-51 blowout of McKeel Academy from Lakeland in Friday’s semifinals.
In other tournament action, the Winter Springs High School girls basketball team (9-4) split a pair of games in the KSA (Kaley Scholarship Association) Pre-Holiday Tournament at Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, struggling with Copper Hills High School (7-4) from West Jordan, Utah, 62-21, on Friday before bouncing back with a 49-32 triumph over Thrall High School (9-7) from Thrall, Texas, on Saturday.
