Syracuse Basketball: Four-star J.J. Starling upsets Roddy Gayle Jr. team

Syracuse basketball 2022 target J.J. Starling has absolutely crushed things so far at the 2021 Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament in Montverde, Fla., where he is averaging more than 22 points per game while facing a trio of top-10 teams.

This past Saturday afternoon, Starling and his teammates at the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., squared off against the Wasatch Academy out of Mount Pleasant, Utah, a group whose roster includes former Orange 2022 target Roddy Gayle Jr., a four-star shooting guard who has committed to Ohio State.

In the latest MaxPreps top-25 poll, the La Lumiere School checked in at No. 19, and the Wasatch Academy was No. 8. Starling paced his squad with 23 points on stellar shooting from beyond the arc, and the La Lumiere School knocked off the Wasatch Academy, 67-65.

Per statistics from legitstats.com, Starling logged 32 minutes against the Wasatch Academy. He connected on 7-of-15 from the field, an impressive 6-of-8 from deep and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.

Additionally, Starling collected two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Talk about a tremendous performance by the four-star point guard. Gayle, by the way, tallied 11 points in 29 minutes of action, according to legitstats.com.

Syracuse basketball 2022 prospect J.J. Starling is having one heck of a run at a prep-school tourney.

In addition to his 23 points in the La Lumiere School win over the Wasatch Academy, Starling recently notched 18 points against the No. 1 Montverde Academy out of Montverde, Fla., and 26 points versus the No. 2 Sunrise Christian Academy from Bel Aire, Kan.

The La Lumiere School lost to both the Montverde Academy and the Sunrise Christian Academy, although Starling certainly didn’t disappoint in either contest.

In three affairs at the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament against the nation’s No. 1, No. 2 and No. 8 high-school squads, Starling is averaging roughly 22.3 points a game.

The former star at Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, N.Y., continues to make his mark on a national scale. His extensive list of scholarship offers from a range of high-majors is only going to keep growing, which means even fiercer competition for Syracuse basketball to land Starling.