Battle For The City: 2026 Top Performers

The best five players from this past Wednesday’s event

GROVE CITY, Ohio - - Last Wednesday evening, 270 Hoops brought forth the 8th edition of Battle For The City at Central Crossing High School, with some of the best players from the area competing for one last time. The sophomore game may have been the most fun of the night, as the OCC All-Stars outlasted the Central Ohio All-Stars 107-104, in an absolutely loaded game. 

This has always been an event that the best hoopers in Central Ohio have played in at some point in their careers, and this game was infiltrated with talented players that have already had impacts on their teams and will keep doing it for the next two seasons. 

Choosing the top five performers from this game was insanely difficult, but below are the five players who stood out the most in a stacked game.

Alex Smith ( 6’9 Forward / Upper Arlington): Smith excelled in transition and from behind the three-point line the entire game, he won MVP and demonstrated why he is one of the best overall prospects not just in the area, but the state as a whole, as he holds a couple of Division 1 scholarship offers. He is a rebounding machine and hit the glass like a madman on Wednesday night, being able to get out on the run himself or throwing the ball ahead for easy scores for teammates. Smith showed again that he can stretch the defense out to the three-point line, knocking in multiple triples throughout the game. He went on a personal 7-0 down the stretch of the ball game, ending with a three-pointer to up by that amount with a couple minutes left on the clock. The Upper Arlington standout and first-team All-OCC player put a stamp on his tremendous sophomore season with a terrific performance at the 2024 edition of Battle For The City.