RALEIGH — It took mere seconds for Arden Christ School’s Lakeem Jackson to pull down a rebound under the Middle Creek hoop, take two dribbles and find a streaking Mason Plumlee for a dunk on the other end.

Collecting a rebound under the opposing goal isn’t supposed to turn into a fast-break, but there were no limits on what Christ School could and could not do on Saturday night.

The No. 11 high school team in the country ran the Mustangs ragged to the tune of a 70-45 win at the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational.

Although Middle Creek boasts two players that have signed to play for Division I programs next year in Garrius Adams (Miami) and Tom Tankelewicz (Charleston Southern), there was a distinct talent gap from top to bottom on the Christ School roster.

It’s not often you run across a team in which reserve players have scholarship offers to places like Indiana and Notre Dame, but such is the case with Christ School and sophomore center Marshall Plumlee, younger brother of Mason.

“Coming in I knew they were really talented and could present match-up problems all over. I really thought for us to compete we needed to shoot the way we can ... [but] it didn’t really happen early and it didn’t happen late,” Middle Creek coach David Kushner said.

“I had seen [Christ School] play once and thought they were very, very good — one of the best high school teams I had seen — and then watching [tonight], I haven’t changed my opinion at all.”

Senior Mason Plumlee, a Duke signee, collected seven rebounds and dunked his way to 9-of-11 shooting and 18 points.

Jackson, the No. 20 small forward in the country by Scout.com, will head to South Carolina next year. Jackson scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and also had seven rebounds. His dunk on Maurice Basden brought the crowd to its feet in the first quarter.

Guard Dee Giger, signed to play at Harvard next year for Tommy Amaker’s squad, added 10 for the Greenies. Middle Creek had no answer for the high-flying prep school right outside of Asheville.

“They came out hitting on all cylinders, and we didn’t have it,” Tankelewicz said.

After several first-quarter shots rimmed in-and-out, and the ‘Stangs found themselves down 21-7.

The frustration continued as Middle Creek entered halftime facing a 41-18 deficit.

“We tried just a little bit too hard, trying to make big plays happen when we really should’ve relaxed a little bit and settled down,” Adams said. “They really weren’t pressuring us too much. I think I should’ve taken it to the rim more.”

Unable to drive into the lane against the bigger team, Adams and Tankelewicz stayed along the perimeter for the greater part of the game and jacked up jumpers. Adams missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, hit two of his six free throws and shot just 7-of-22 from the field.

“You can’t get all the way to the basket against them, their front line is way too big. It was either a jump shot or a floater and we just didn’t hit them tonight,” Tankelewicz said. “You look at 3-point shots, 5-of-31, you’re not winning any games with that, especially against that big of a team.”

Middle Creek’s next opponent is Southern Lee, which had lost to Kinston 72-55. That game is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Monday, with the winner going on to play in the Shavlik Randolph Invitational bracket’s fifth-place game on Tuesday.

To view the live blog from Middle Creek's loss to Christ School, visit the SWakeSports blog by clicking here.