National player of the year candidate
Jordan Smith scored early and often Tuesday night, leading No. 2
Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.) to a 57-53 victory over
Archbishop Stepinac (White Plains, N.Y.) in the championship game of the prestigious City of Palms Classic.
Smith — the No. 2-rated player in the Class of 2026 — scored 31 points, including 17 in the first half.
The well-built, 6-foot-3 guard had eight points in the first quarter. He opened the second with a 3-pointer that gave Paul VI a 17-8 lead and two minutes later provided an exclamation point slam dunk.
Jordan Smith made an early statement with respect to MaxPreps National Player of the Year honors at the City of Palms Classic, leading Paul VI to the title while averaging more than 33 points per game. (PHOTO: Francis Fedor)
Smith averaged 33.8 points per game over four outings in Fort Myers and had 40 in the opener.
In a 71-54 semifinal win over
Principia (St. Louis, Mo.), Smith had 34 points, 26 of which were in the second half to send the Panthers to the final.
Against Stepinac, Paul VI scored the first six points of the game, and had a double-digit lead by the second quarter.
But Stepinac didn’t go away and clawed back into the game. Led by four-star seniors
Darius Ratliff (USC) and
Jasiah Jervis (Michigan State), the Crusaders outscored Paul VI 20-12 in the third quarter to go into the fourth all tied at 42.
With 3:50 left in the game, Stepinac took its first lead of the game on a shot from Fordham pledge
Hassan Koureissi, who scored 32 in the semifinals.
Paul VI knocked off teams from Ohio, Florida, Missouri and New York en route to the City of Palms Classic championship. (PHOTO: Francis Fedor)
Tied at 51 with 1:41 left, Smith drove to the basket, got fouled and made a free throw to take a 52-51 lead.
With 36 seconds left and Paul VI still holding the 52-51 lead, Smith dished it to the corner to senior
Lawrence Brown, who buried a triple to give the Panthers a 55-51 lead that they would not relinquish.
Stepinac had one last chance down 55-53 with the ball but missed a three with four seconds left that would have won the tournament for the Crusaders.
