High school basketball: Paul VI and Montverde Academy advance to Chipotle Nationals title game, set stage for showdown of No. 1-ranked teams

The No. 1-ranked team in each set of high school basketball national rankings won semifinal contests Friday to advance to the Chipotle Nationals championship game. Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) and Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) will tip Saturday at noon ET on ESPN2.

Friday's first semifinal contest saw Paul VI, ranked No. 1 in the MaxPreps Top 25, outlast National Top 10 No. 4 Link Academy (Branson, Mo.) 58-44 in an impressive wire-to-wire victory. The Panthers used a suffocating defensive effort to hold Link Academy to 26.7 percent shooting from the field and 15.4 percent from 3-point range.

Duke signee Darren Harris led the way with a game-high 20 points, Connecticut signee Isaiah Abraham chipped in 15 points and four rebounds and Rhode Island signee Ben Hammond contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Link Academy (26-7) got off to a slow start following a double-overtime victory against Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) in their first-round matchup yesterday. Paul VI took advantage, jumping out to a 12-0 lead and holding the Lions scoreless for over five minutes before five-star Texas signee Tre Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 2:37 remaining in the opening quarter.

Paul VI (34-2) led 21-6 at the end of the first quarter and 33-20 at the half. Link Academy gained momentum headed into the fourth quarter as it closed the third period on a 10-2 run to cut the Panthers lead to seven.

The Panthers put away Link Academy with a 7-0 spurt to start the fourth quarter, culminating with an electric alley-oop slam from sophomore Jordan Smith to make it 49-35.

Despite a slow start, No. 2-ranked junior Cameron Boozer finished with a game-high 29 points and seven rebounds. Michigan State signee Jase Richardson had 19 points, five assists and four rebounds in his final high school game.