Victor Smith, West boys win Shoe City matchup

LYNN ? The spotlight was on the best high school boys basketball players in the city in the second annual Shoe City Basketball Classic, which was won by the West, 103-100, Friday night at English’s Cavanagh Gym.Tech’s Victor Smith was named the game’s Most Valuable Player with 15 points, four of which came on a pair of thundering dunks that brought the crowd to its feet.”It feels great,” said Smith of being the brightest star in Lynn’s galaxy for one night. “I just stayed focused and tried to play my game.”English’s Rafael Perez led all scorers with 24 points for the West, while Classical’s Jasper Grassa had 15. Other players in double figures for the West were Classical’s Cam Smith (13), English’s James Mitchell (12) and Mike Pugielli (11) from St. Mary’s.For the East, English’s Ryan Woumn was the top scorer with 22 points, followed by Classical’s Quivari Jackson (20) and Jarell Byrd (16), and English’s Eugene Turner (13) and Jeremy Subervi (12).The game featured some unusual moments not seen in the high school season, like Woumn and Jackson in a backcourt against Grassa and Perez, Tech teammates James Bazile and Lorenzo Rivera guarding each other, and English’s Mitchell guarding Turner. And there was plenty of good-natured trash-talking, particularly from Woumn, who engaged Perez, his English backcourt mate, Cam Smith, the officials, fans in the stands, and just about anyone else with eardrums.”There was a lot of (talking) out there,” Victor Smith said. “Both ways.”As for the game itself, the West led most of the way, and by as many as 20 points when Victor Smith emphatically dunked a rebound of a missed shot to make the score 76-56 with 1:37 left to play in the third quarter.The East went on an 18-2 run after that to cut the lead to four, and eventually got its deficit down to three on a couple of occasions late in the fourth quarter.Grassa led the West on a 12-2 spurt after that to increase the lead back to double digits, but Jackson and Woumn picked it back up for the East, and when Jackson made a layup with 10 seconds left, his team trailed by just three.Cam Smith was fouled and missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but the East never got a good look at the basket before the final horn went off.Proceeds from the boys and girls games raised scholarship money for Lynn students. At a banquet on Thursday at St. Michael’s Hall, Classical’s Alex Watler and English’s Ngozi Nwaogu were named Student-Athletes of the Year, while Byrd and English’s Jeanette Anderson were named Players of the Year.Event organizer Simmie Anderson said he expects to return at least $500 to each of the city’s four high schools.”It was a great game; a great event all around,” Anderson said. “The whole city of Lynn supported us.”