By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
SPRINGFIELD – With the nation’s most noteworthy high school basketball team as this year’s headlining act, this year’s Tournament of Champions shattered multiple attendance records.
A sold-out crowd of 10,828 fans packed JQH Arena on championship Saturday for one final chance to watch Sierra Canyon, the nationally ranked California school that has some of the most recognizable recruits in the country – and a documentary crew chronicling its season.
They all got to witness Paul VI record one of the biggest upsets of the year.
DeShawn Harris-Smith scored 23 points, Dug McDaniel added 18 and the Virginia school won its second Tournament of Champions title with a 72-65 victory over the Trailblazers in the finale.
“People feel like they can’t be beat,” McDaniel said. “We just shocked the world today.”
The 37th annual tournament drew a record-setting 27,977 fans to Springfield over the three-day event, with many of them relishing the opportunity to watch Sierra Canyon’s Bronny James – son of NBA superstar LeBron James – and the four other Trailblazers who will play in Division I.
Yet the Panthers held all of them to a 9-of-30 shooting performance in the first half and then withstood a second-half rally to win the school’s first Tournament of Champions title since 2013.
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“The whole team contributed and executed the game plan,” Paul VI coach Glenn Farello said. “The fight we showed in that we showed when they made that run in the second half, for us to be able to answer the way that we did showed a lot of poise. These guys made a lot of winning plays down the stretch. Just really super proud of the effort.”
The win avenged a couple of key losses for Paul VI.
Sierra Canyon beat the Panthers by three points at the ‘Iolani Classic tournament last month in Hawaii, which provided some direct motivation for the players entering Saturday’s rematch.
“We’re not always going to be the best team and we embrace that role of being the underdog,” said McDaniel, who was named this tournament’s Most Valuable Player. “We had a huge chip on our shoulder because we definitely felt like we were supposed to win that game. We just came out today and showed why we were supposed to win that game a couple of months ago.”
It also allowed this year’s seniors and juniors to add a Tournament of Champions title to their resumes after falling to Oak Hill in the 2020 championship game.
“I want these guys to experience this,” Farello said. “I want them to have that joy and want them to have the experience this tournament provides. It provides an amazing opportunity to see what college basketball can be like – and this is what I want for all of them is to play college basketball, come back to be more motivated than ever because you get a chance to experience it. Springfield, Missouri, just does it right in every which way. First-class operation. Everyone coming to the games, they know their basketball. It’s just been something special.”
McDaniel and Harris-Smith will have the opportunity to continue their careers at the next level.
McDaniel, a 5-foot-11 senior guard, has already signed with Michigan. Harris-Smith, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, holds at least eight Division I scholarship offers, according to Rivals. Together, they helped Paul VI build a 13-point lead with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
But Sierra Canyon nearly erased that entirely over the next three minutes and hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 65-62 with :42 to play.
But the Trailblazers never got any closer, as Paul VI finished off a 34-of-42 night from the line to close out a game that saw the teams whistled for 44 total fouls – Sierra Canyon with 30 of them.
That made it hard for the Trailblazers to execute, particularly as starters got into foul trouble.
“We couldn’t get into a rhythm. Not one of these three games,” Trailblazers coach Andre Chevalier said. “We never got a flow. Every time is a foul. Every single time. Both sides. I don’t care. I told the referee ‘Don’t call a foul on either side so that we can get some kind of a flow.’ It’s tough for us to come here and everything is a touch foul and then we play other elite games and none of this stuff is a foul. And so it was tough for us. I’m going to say that because I think I need to say it, but I’m never going to make an excuse. They kicked our butts today. Bar none, referee had zero to do with it. But I just don’t think that every time down there can be a foul call. There is such a thing called flow and there is zero flow here. Zero flow.”
UCLA-bound Amari Bailey, the nation’s No. 2 recruit, led Sierra Canyon with 18 points. James added 13 in his most productive outing of the week after scoring three against Parkview on Thursday and six against Whitney Young on Friday.
“Bronny plays the game the right way,” Chevalier said. “He’s not going to force shots if he doesn’t have a shot. Some games, Bronny might take two shots and sometimes he might take 10 depending on what we need. Today we needed him to hit some shots from the perimeter, drive to the basket and get to the free-throw line. He was able to do that in the second half.”
Ultimately, though, the Trailblazers didn’t do enough in the first half to be successful.
“They outplayed us today,” Chevalier said. “They kicked our butts in every aspect of the game. I think they were hungry. We beat them in Hawaii. This was a revenge game for them. We did not take it as such. We didn’t compete in the first half. Kudos to them. No excuses. They beat us today. They deserve to be champions.”
Paul VI’s 1-2-2 zone was particularly effective at neutralizing Sierra Canyon early, allowing the Panthers to emerge with a 29-22 halftime lead despite shooting just 7-of-17 from the field.
“From our first experience (in Hawaii), we held them to 52 points in that game,” Farello said. “I thought our kids realized they could battle and fight with anybody. When we’re locked in five guys working together defensively, we’re actually pretty good. It’s always been a staple of our program – and we’ve been talking about it all year. It’s their turn to show out. It’s their turn to be PVI basketball and bleed back and gold. I thought that they rose again to the challenge today.”
Darren Harris (11 points) and Ben Hammond (10) also scored in double-figures for Paul VI.
Mike Price scored 11 for Sierra Canyon, while Nebraska commit Ramel Lloyd Jr. added nine. Kijani Wright, who will play at Southern California, fouled out without scoring.
“We left a lot on the table and we have a lot to prove,” Bailey said. “I feel like Springfield got glimpses of how special this team can be but I don’t think we’ve fully maximized – or will ever fully maximize – how much potential this team really has across the board. When we’re all clicking on one accord and playing defense at a high level, it’s very tough to beat us.”
Which makes Paul VI’s victory that much more impressive.
“Everybody thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for us because we play a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Harris-Smith said. “We took the challenge. This year, we’re going to get a lot of teams that we’re not supposed to beat. Sierra Canyon has a lot of high, major guys. To get the chance to come down and beat them is just great for me and my team.”
PAUL VI 9 20 17 26 — 72
SIERRA CANYON 7 15 19 24 — 65
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Dug McDaniel, Paul VI (Most Valuable Player)
Zach Howell, Springfield Catholic
Jadis Jones, New Madrid County Central
Elijah Whitley, Parkview
Colin Ruffin, Nixa
AJ Casey, Whitney Young
Bruce Thornton, Milton
Kijani Wright, Sierra Canyon
Ramel Lloyd Jr., Sierra Canyon
Amari Bailey, Sierra Canyon
DeShawn Harris-Smith, Paul VI
