The last quarterfinal features a pair of Nike EYBL Scholastic programs as IMG Academy takes on La Lumiere. Both teams had unexpected fights on their hands in the first round. Darius Acuff leads IMG and is considered the best point guard in the country. La Lumiere has multiple players that can score points, most notably Notre Dame recruit Jalen Haralson and UConn pledge Darius Adams.
It looked a lot like the Columbus/Grayson game at the start as La Lumiere jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind a putback rom 6’’4 senior Melvin Bell, two free throws and a transition basket from Haralson and two free throws from 6’7 senior Chuck Love III. IMG finally got on the board with a bucket from Acuff. La Lu extended its lead to 13-4 with 4:32 left in the quarter when a three from 6’8 senior Sadiq White and another from Acuff brough IMG to within three at 13-10. IMG would continue to stay within three points until two putback dunks, one by Bell and one by 6’9 senior Grayson Bennett put La Lumiere up 23-16 with one minute to play. Two Acuff free throws for IMG were offset by a drive from Adams to make the score 25-18 in favor of La Lumiere.
La Lu maintained that type of margin into the second quarter, leading 30-23 with 4:50 left in the quarter. Acuff then hit two free throws and then a three to get to within two, 30-28 with just over three minutes to play. La Lumiere responded with back-to-back threes, one from Bennett and one from Bell, to go back up by nine, 39-30. Acuff hit another three for IMG but Haralson scored the final three points of the period for La Lumiere to give them a 42-33 lead at the half.
IMG mounted a comeback at the beginning of the third quarter with an 8-3 run to get to within four, 45-41 after a pair of White free throws with just over five minutes to play. La Lumiere responded with a 9-2 run, five from Adams and four from Harelson to make the score 54-43 with just under four minutes to go. A three from Acuff of IMG cut the margin to eight but La Lumiere wasn’t done. La Lumiere closed out the quarter with a 10-1 run as Bell and Adams combined for all ten points to give La Lumiere a fifteen point 64-49 lead heading into the final quarter.
Don’t think for a minute that La Lumiere had it all locked up. IMG got things to within ten at 68-58 with 6:32 left to go. IMG kept coming as Acuff and 6’1 junior Trey Beamer started finding the range from the perimeter while a lid seemed to be on top of the La Lumiere basket. IMG reeled off 11 unanswered points to take a 69-68 lead with 3:18 to play on a putback by 6’4 junior Jermal Jones. La Lumiere took the lead back for a moment on a bucket by Love but a 6’8 senior Kareem Stagg basket inside and a three from Beamer gave IMG a 74-70 lead with two minutes to play. La Lumiere would come back to life and with just under one minute to play was down just one, 76-75 after a Haralson free throw. Acuff scored on a drive with twenty-five seconds left to put IMG back up by three. After multiple timeouts, La Lumiere as unable to get a good look at a game tying three and IMG made an improbable comeback from fifteen points down to win 78-75.
IMG was led by Acuff with 33 points while White had 22 points and Beamer finished with 10 points.
For La Lumiere, Bell led the way with 22 points while Haralson added 19 points, Adams had 14 and Love added 11 points.