Aaliyah Chavez, Kian Anthony are MVPs at Jordan Classic All-Star high school basketball games

Points aplenty in as the boys and girls combined for 501 points in two offensive showcases in Washington D.C.; Generations meet as Carmelo Anthony presents his son with MVP honor
Aaliyah Chavez (right) poses with her high school coach Jill Schneider one last time after winning the game MVP honors Friday at the Jordan Brand Classic in Washington D.C.
Aaliyah Chavez (right) poses with her high school coach Jill Schneider one last time after winning the game MVP honors Friday at the Jordan Brand Classic in Washington D.C. / Courtesy Pete Christy/Twitter (@pchristy11)

The Jordan Brandon Classic, filled with big names and rich tradition, annointed two more future superstars Friday in Washington D.C.

Oklahoma commit Aaliyah Chavez and future Syracuse standout Kiyan Anthony, were voted the two games' MVPs in high-scoring affairs at CareFirst Arena.

Chavez, High School On SI's National Player of the Year, scored 24 points and added five assists and five steals leading Team Flight to a 128-108 victory. It helped offset a record 28-point performance by Team USA's Nyla Brooks, a 6-2 power forward from Bishop Ireton (Alexandria, Va.), who is headed to North Carolina.

Chavez, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Monterey High School (Lubbock Texas), scored nearly 5,000 career points while leading her team to its first state title in 45 years. Friday's performance cemented her prep legacy in her final all-star game performance.

She and many of the players took part the last two weeks in the McDonald's All-American Game in Brooklyn (N.Y.) and the Nike Hoop Summit last weekend in Portland (Ore.).

UCLA-bound Sienna Betts, the MVP of the McDonald's All-American Game, had 22 points on 11 of 14 shooting and six rebounds and USC signee Jazzy Davidson, the MVP of the Nike Hoop Summit, added 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for Team Flight.

UConn commit Kelis Fisher contributed 23 points, Stanford-bound Hailee Swain 18 and Georgia commit Zhen Craft 10 for Team Air, which trailed 39-14 at the end of the first quarter and despite a 34-20 run in the third quarter could never recover. It entered the fourth trailing just 84-78.

Iowa-bound Addie Deal made four of five shots and had five rebounds and three assists for the winners, which shot 50.5% from the field and drilled 11 three-pointers.

Anthony, the son of former NBA great Carmelo Anthony, had 26 points on 11 of 15 shooting and added five rebounds, leading his Team Air team to a 141-124 victory over Team Flight, which got 25 points and seven rebounds from the nation's No. 1 recruit AJ Dybansta, a BYU commit.

Kiyan Anthony might still have to buy dinner to his pops, who outscored him by one in the first Jordan Brand Classic in 2002 when Carmello scored 27.

He led a remarkable seven teammates in double figures, including Caleb Wilson, a North Carolina commit, who scored a game-high 28 points on 13 of 14 shooting. He added six rebounds.

Other double digit scorers for the winners were Baylor-bound Tounde Yessoufou (19 points), Providence signee Jamier Jones (12), Florida bound Alex Lloyd (11) and Duke signee Cameron Boozer and uncommitted Nate Ament with 10 points apiece.

In all, Team Air shot 63% from the field (59 of 94) and had 32 assists, led by uncommitted Acaden Lewis with eight in just 12 minutes of play. Lewis also led the team with eight rebounds as Team Air outrebounded Team Flight, 59-37.

Arkansas signee Darius Acuff had 22 points, future Razorback teammate Maleek Thomas added 16, Kentucky signee Jasper Johnson 12, Houston-bound Chris Cenac 11 and future Syracuse forward Sadiq White 10 for Team Flight.


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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.