“Yep, that moment was ‘game over,’ ” Smith said afterward, surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers and selfie-seekers.
Monday’s 63-51 win over second-seeded Gonzaga earned No. 1 Paul VI its second title in three years and provided a fitting end for one of the best conference campaigns this area has seen in some time.
The Northern Virginia program is a powerhouse built in a conference typically too tough to control for long. Since capturing the 2022 championship, the Panthers have lost just one conference game: last year’s title game. That two-point defeat to an inspired St. John’s team is the only flaw on an otherwise perfect stretch for Coach Glenn Farello and his band of Division I prospects.
This winter, Paul VI (30-2) achieved a level of dominance rarely seen in this ever-competitive league. Not only did the Panthers go undefeated in WCAC play, they also won each game by double digits.
“At the beginning of the year, we were just playing basketball,” senior guard Darren Harris said. “We just wanted to play our butts off every night. And then we’d look up at the scoreboard and see that we dominated. That just kept happening all season.”
Gonzaga (27-5) loomed just behind the Panthers all winter, both in the WCAC standings and The Washington Post’s local rankings. It provided a stiff test Monday in Northwest Washington, countering the Panthers’ depth with strong performances from its trio of junior stars, guards Nyk Lewis and Derek Dixon and forward Christian Gurdak. The Eagles trailed for most of the night but cut the deficit to one possession in the fourth.
But the Panthers were not interested in more championship heartbreak. Every time the lead dwindled and a boisterous Gonzaga student section grew louder, Paul VI seniors such as Harris and guard Ben Hammond would find a timely bucket. Harris, a Duke signee, led his team with 21 points, while Smith totaled 12 and Hammond added 10.
“What made us good this season was us buying into what we had to do,” Hammond said. “We didn’t care about stats, we didn’t care about the glory we might get, we just cared about each other.”