Liberty Christian Prep Lions (8-5) at #1 Lake Minneola Hawks (10-1)
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
Where: Lake Minneola HS, Minneola (101 North Hancock Road)
TV: BHSN (Channel 47 and HD 1147)
Live Streaming: www.bhsnlive.com
Coaches: LCP – Tony Atkins (1st, 8-5); Lake Minneola – Freddie Cole (4th, 72-23)
How they match up: The No. 1 team in Central Florida goes head-to-head with the tallest player in the nation Thursday night on BHSN. Liberty Christian Prep is fast becoming a household name on the area’s basketball scene because of Tacko Fall, a 7-foot-5 center from Senegal who recently signed with UCF. Fall is the tallest high school basketball player in the country and chose the Knights over tradition rich programs such as Georgetown, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. Fall is one of eight players on the Lions roster born outside the United States. Senior Nemanja Peric (Serbia) along with juniors Alberto Moreno (Spain), Aleksa Dubak (Serbia) and Ludy Kayouloud (France) are all receiving division-1 interest. Liberty Christian Prep plays in the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association alongside state powers Arlington Country Day, Potter’s House Christian and Oldsmar Christian. Lake Minneola, last year’s 6A runner-up, is led by identical twins Avery and Anthony Brown. They were co-MVPs at the Rotary Tip-Off Classic, where the Hawks beat defending 2A champ Orlando Christian Prep, First Academy and defending 8A champ Winter Park to win the tournament title. Anthony is Lake Minneola’s leading scorer at 19.3 points per game with Avery right behind at 18.1. Junior Andrew Mendoza, a Florida State baseball commit, is averaging 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds while shooting 65-percent from 3-point range. The Hawks only loss this season came against Montverde Academy, which is ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today. Those same rankings have Lake Minneola at No. 49.
Three things to know:
1. Lake Minneola opened in 2011 and is the newest school in Lake County. Liberty Christian Prep was known as Liberty Christian Academy until 2013.
2. Lake Minneola coach Freddie Cole played college basketball at Bethune Cookman and averaged 27 points per game in the Honduras League in 2010.
3. Liberty Christian Prep coach Tony Atkins was an all-state selection at Jones in 1991 and coached collegiately at Mercer and Auburn.