Middleton, Fla. — The Villages High School boys basketball team protected its home floor in a three-day sweep of the Buffalo Team Camp in Middleton.
VHS won eight games in three days — picking up two pool-play victories on both Friday and Saturday — before cruising through a single-elimination tournament to win the Large Varsity title inside the Buffalo Sports Complex.
The Buffalo defeated Winter Park, 56-38, in the event's championship on Sunday evening, finishing atop an 18-team bracket.
"We talked about it as a team coming in, we were trying to win this whole thing," said VHS head coach Colt McDowell. "We knew we had a lot of really good teams coming in here and just being a part of it wasn't good enough — we wanted to win it. I'm proud of this group for competing, being tough and together, and collectively willing themselves to get through a long and grueling three days."
VHS opened on Friday with a 64-27 win over Springstead and a 59-46 victory over Vanguard, before sweeping through pool play with two more wins on Saturday. The Buffalo took out Seminole (60-48) and Ocoee (55-43) to earn a top seed and opening-round bye in Sunday's bracketed tournament.
In the win-or-go-home format, the Buffalo began with a 68-42 win over Celebration and then hammered Vanguard in a rematch by a final of 57-27.
Gainesville gave VHS a second-half push in the semifinals, but it was all for naught as the Buffalo closed out a 55-50 win to advance to the championship against Winter Park.
The Villages used a strong first half to pounce all over the visitors from Orange County in the finale, storming out to a 34-14 lead at halftime and never looking back.
Jared Thompson led the way in the championship with 20 points and five assists, while Jadence Kennedy had 14 points and Ethan Bevis finished with 13.
The Buffalo dressed just seven players throughout the weekend, as a trio of projected starters next season — Herly Brutus, Jomar Bernard and Aaron Britt, Jr. — each were absent because of a prior competitive commitment elsewhere. Brady Hunt was also out with an injury, leading to extensive minutes for Logan Hutt, Justin Haddox and Ashton Hunt.
Bevis finished as the team's leading scorer through the weekend with 17.6 points per game, while Kymani Weathers averaged a team-high 5.9 rebounds and Kennedy tallied a team-best 4.6 assists per game.
"Anytime you step on the floor as a competitor, whether you're missing guys or not, you have to believe you're going to win or what's even the point in showing up," McDowell said. "Even without those three starters, we think we have a lot of really talented players and it's great when those guys take advantage of their opportunities to step up. They put the work in every single day and they deserve moments like these just as much as anyone else."
Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org.
