Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s boys basketball program hosted its first Catholic Middle School Boys Basketball Tournament the weekend of October 25 and 26 on campus. The tournament started Friday evening with the first round of games that would determine the standings for an elimination tournament that took place on Saturday.
The middle school teams taking part in this year’s event were St. Rose of Lima, Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of the Lakes, Blessed Trinity, St. John the Apostle, and St. Mary’s Cathedral. The tournament consists of six first round games that began on Friday. The teams played in two three-team pools, where they played games to determine their placement in the tournament bracket on Saturday.
Pool A, featured St. Mary’s, Our Lady of the Lakes, and St. John the Apostle. Pool B games followed and included Immaculate Conception, St. Rose of Lima, and Blessed Trinity. Each middle school program that participated in the event received t-shirts for their players and will be invited to return to Pace High School during the high school basketball season to watch a varsity practice, participate in a free basketball clinic, and be in attendance for one of Pace’s varsity games this season.
The Pace players and coaches ran the weekend’s event, which allowed Pace’s current players to interact and give these future high school players a chance to meet and learn from current high school student-athletes.
Head coach Anthony Serro and his staff worked to ensure that each team participating received a first-class experience and aimed to give these middle school teams an exciting start to their basketball seasons. The Pace boys basketball season officially began practices on Monday, October 28.
The Spartans will play in two pre-season games at Coral Gables High School on November 13 and 14 against Miami Christian and Westminster Christian. The regular season starts at St. Brendan on November 18, and then the Spartans home opener is a district game against Mater Lakes on November 20.
The team returns with 10 varsity players from last year, led by Danny Duarte who averaged 24 points per game last year, including two games over 40 points, and CJ Fisher who averaged 22 points per game.
Pace will look to build off of an offense that averaged just under 75 points per game last year, which was good for a top 10 ranking in the state in that category and was highlighted by a 107 effort in a victory against Cooper City last year.