Purdue signee Braden Smith helps Westfield to Hall of Fame Classic title
NEW CASTLE — Braden Smith wants to win a lot of games this season, but he also wants to be Mr. Basketball, as he'll tell you, whereas players in his position so often take a more non-committal sort of tack to that subject.
That overt ambition then does strike something of a counterbalance to the Purdue signee's own general disregard for his own numbers — scoring, at least.
It worked out great on Thursday, as Smith led his Westfield High School team to two wins and the championship of the prominent Hall of Fame Classic at New Castle Field House.
In wins over Connersville and Cathedral, Smith scored 20 points total, that number telling only a fraction of the story.
Looking to drive and kick or attack and dish seemingly exclusively, Smith totaled 19 assists for the day, factoring heavily into teammate Cam Haffner's seven-three-pointer performance in the title game against Cathedral. Haffner made two clutch threes in the fourth quarter after the Irish had cut a 22-point deficit down to just two possessions, both of those shots coming off passes from Smith.
Beyond that, Smith grabbed 10 rebounds and nine steals, falling just one takeaway short of a quadruple-double. Against Connersville, Smith finished with nine rebounds, nine assists and five steals, on top of his eight points.
"It's not about that for me," Smith said of his willingness to set his own scoring interests aside, even though he averaged around 21 per game prior to New Castle. "I don't care if I score zero points, as long as we win and my guys are happy and good about it, then we're chillin'."
Smith was named Tournament MVP.
"It's one of those things you kind of dream about," Smith said. "Not a lot of teams and players can say they played here and won it all."
This event could have set up for Smith and future teammate Fletcher Loyer to meet in the title game, a few weeks after Loyer and Homestead won a close meeting at the FORUM Tip-Off at Southport.
Homestead, though, fell to Cathedral in the morning, a bit of a strange game for Loyer in that he was scratched up by Irish defenders to the point that he needed to wrap his wrist and eventually his forearm due to bleeding.
"Coming off down screens, they were holding onto me some," Loyer joked, "and a few of their guys need to cut their nails a little bit."
The sharp-shooter said the wrap didn't affect him much, but he did need 25 shots to get his 28 points in that game, and uncharacteristically missed a handful of free throws.
"I'm a Big Ten player," Loyer said. "I need to adjust and play better."
In the evening, with the wrap gone, Loyer made his first four threes against Connersville en route to scoring 30 on 10-of-17 shooting, 7-of-12 from three-point range.
Purdue coach Matt Painter attended the morning games in New Castle, and assistant coach Brandon Brantley watched the games in the evening, both of them also there to see 2023 target Xavier Booker of Cathedral.
Booker scored nine against Homestead and 12 vs. Westfield and was named to the all-tournament team, as were Loyer and Smith (obviously).
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