High school basketball: Cooper Flagg shines as Montverde Academy downs Paul VI 79-63 to capture seventh Chipotle Nationals title

Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) saved its best for last at Chipotle Nationals, blowing past Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) 79-63 in the championship game to capture its seventh event title — the most of any program in tournament history.

The Eagles were paced by 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots from top-ranked Duke signee Cooper Flagg. Five-star Maryland signee Derik Queen chipped in 19 points, six rebounds and four assists while LSU signee Curtis Givens provided a spark off the bench with a team-high 24 points.

Montverde Academy (34-0) led 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and 45-32 at the half. Flagg and Givens combined for 26 points in the first half to power Montverde offensively. Givens connected on 4 of 5 3-point attempts in the opening 16 minutes.

Paul VI stayed within striking distance throughout the third quarter and gave itself a chance to cut the lead to single digits with the last possession of the period. Flagg had other plans, swatting away a 3-point attempt from Connecticut signee Isaiah Abraham and went the length of the court to slam home a transition dunk as time expired to give Montverde a 60-46 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The Virginia program scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 60-50, but a layup from Baylor signee Robert Wright III followed by an offensive rebound and putback that resulted in an and-one from Queen put the Eagles back ahead by 15 points with 5:22 remaining in the contest.

In one of the highlights of the game, Flagg lost his shoe on the offensive end before sliding into the passing lane for a steal and then being fouled. The native of Maine was a menace on the defensive end throughout the championship game and helped force Paul VI into 14 turnovers.

Flagg was one of five Montverde Academy players to average double figures for the tournament along with Queen (16.3), Wright (12.0), Givens (10.7) and Liam McNeeley (10.3).

Montverde Academy surged ahead by as many as 19 points in the final minute of the game.

Paul VI (35-3) made a strong case to remain No. 1 in the MaxPreps Top 25 to finish the season after picking up a pair of wins over IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) and defending champion Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) to advance to the title game.

Four-star Duke signee Darren Harris continued a strong tournament as he finished with a team-high 16 points in the loss. Harris averaged 24.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game in three games at Chipotle and connected on 11 3-pointers.