On Thursday night, ex-Lake Clifton player Kevin Smith was driving on Interstate 95 in Florida, headed north with his fiancee to see his former teammates play for a state basketball title.

"He was ecstatic about coming home," said his fiancee, Nina Parsons.

On Saturday, Lake Clifton won that title, but Smith never made it home. The former All-Metro swingman, 20, was killed in a car accident in Jacksonville, four hours into his journey from Tallahassee Community College.

Smith was pronounced dead at the scene from injuries suffered after being thrown from his Nissan 300 ZX after apparently swerving to avoid a truck, Parsons said.

Parsons, 20, said she suffered a severe neck injury and fractured left hip bone.

"A tractor-trailer was changing over into our left-hand lane from the right lane. Kevin tried to avoid it. The car flipped over twice," said Parsons.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported the incident as a one-car accident, and no charges have been filed. Police are still investigating.

The news of Smith's death reached Lakers coach Herman Harried a few hours after Lake Clifton defeated Sherwood in the Class 4A state semifinals.

"My phone rang at about 4 a.m. Friday, and my assistant, Ronald Lucas, said, 'Coach, I hate to spoil what just happened in our game, but Kevin Smith just died,' " said Harried. "I was in denial, hoping somebody would call and say he wasn't dead."

Later on Friday, Harried had to confirm the news to Lakers player Andre Mouzone.

"He asked me, 'Coach, is it true?' I started to say, 'Andre, I heard ' but before I finished the sentence, I heard Andre drop the phone," said Harried. "Kevin lived with Andre and his mother [Carrie Mumford] for a while. They were like brothers. Andre even wore Kevin's jersey [No. 21] this year. Andre was devastated."

Harried told his players in Friday's practice, "If it all works out, you'll feel an extra hand on that trophy, and you will know whose hand that's going to be. But I never said, 'Let's go win this for Kevin.' "

He didn't have to.

"We went out and beat Oxon Hill for Kevin Smith," said Brandon Haughton, a junior center. "We didn't make a big deal of it to anyone but ourselves."

Smith attended Southern, St. Frances and Lake Clifton, and averaged 27.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists in his final season as a Laker last year, when he was named All-Metro. Although he lacked the grades to win a Division I scholarship, Smith "ranks as one of the top players ever to come out of Baltimore," said former Dunbar coach Bob Wade.

"You could see his competitive spirit watching him play," Wade said. "You could see he had a great passion for the game."

An assistant coach at Northern High, Renard Smith, who is not related to Kevin, suggested he attend Tallahassee. Kevin Smith did not play basketball there this season while working on his grades.

"Kevin didn't have a lot of options coming out of high school. He cried a lot, thinking he wasn't going to go anywhere," said Renard Smith. "But out of anyone I've ever been involved with, Kevin's the one who most deserved to succeed."

"I loved him with all my heart," said Parsons, of Baltimore, who was scheduled to marry Smith next March. "But I guess God felt that Kevin had completed everything that he was supposed to do."

Smith is survived by his parents, Marie and Michael Smith, and two brothers, Marcus Smith and Michael Mackall, all of Baltimore. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Contributing writer Derek Toney provided information for this article.

Pub Date: 3/16/99