Winter Park junior Austin Rivers earned his second-straight most valuable player award at the 37^th Annual City of Palms Classic at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Meyers, but the Wildcats faltered down the stretch in the title game against New Jersey’s Paterson Catholic.

Looking to become the first team from the state of Florida to win the prestigious tournament since Miami Senior did so in 1996, the Wildcats committed too many turnovers and missed too many shots in the final four minutes before succumbing to Paterson, 62-54.

The loss came despite 27 points from Rivers, one night after going for 45 points in the semifinals, as Winter Park (8-3) finished the game almost the same way they started it by being outscored 22-10 in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats started a bit flat-footed by turning the ball over once and missing their first six shots in the opening three minutes of the game as Paterson built a 13-0 lead.

From there Winter Park opened up an impressive run that would extend well into the second quarter as they took the lead into the halftime break, 31-26, on 14-of-26 shooting from the field.

The first quarter ended on a 14-2 run for the Wildcats, which started with a tip-in by senior Adam Jones with 4:47 remaining in the period. Jones was busy throughout the night blocking shots, rebounding and helping to create turnovers while buckets by Rivers, Robert Lovaglio and John David Swanson helped make Winter Park competitive.

The run for the Wildcats would swell to 27-4 at one point as they built a 27-17 advantage with less than two minutes to go in the first half. Again, It was all-around efforts from Lovaglio, Rivers, Jones and David Swanson that fueled the surge.

Winter Park took the lead at 18-17 in the second quarter on a circus shot by Rivers as he drove to the hole, turned his back to the hoop, and bounced in a shot. Rivers, who had 11 points in the opening half, would convert a similar play several minutes later.

But Paterson shook off the barrage from Winter Park and overcame the eight turnovers that resulted in 16 points for the boys in orange and black to trim the Wildcat lead.

The adjustments made by Paterson Catholic proved beneficial in the third quarter. They moved the ball better than they had over the first 12 minutes, attacked the rim with regularity, pressured the Wildcats into mistakes, and briefly took the lead again with just over a minute to play in the quarter on a set of free throws.

While Lovaglio and Jones continued to pull down the boards and block shots, Rivers continued to showcase his speed and versatility in front of a packed house, which included his NBA coaching dad Doc Rivers, by floating through the lane to drain shots one moment and knocking down a long three-pointer the next. The final shot of the quarter by Rivers put his team up by four entering the final stanza.

Then things really got unhinged from that point on. Paterson simply had more pep in their step as they capitalized on easy opportunities to score while Winter Park faltered to maintain the same level of play on both ends of the court that they exibited earlier in the contest.

After Rivers put Winter Park up 51-50 following a three-pointer with 3:41 remaining, two straight turnovers led to five quick points for Paterson and the Wildcats never recovered.