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Special thanks to Dave Burman of 105.5 WCHX in Lewistown... the PA announcer for the Saturday All-Star games!! |
Locals shine at
Roundball Showcase
HARRISBURG -- The Maryland All-Stars broke a four-game losing streak against the Pennsylvania All-Stars by running past the Pa. team in the second half to win the contest 107-94 at Steel-High High School Saturday night.
The local girls gave the Pennsylvanians a split in
the day's five games by winning 88-68. Pennsylvania scored 44 points in each
half led by Shaka Ritter of Harrisburg, who tallied 16 points.
In the final contest, Pennsylvania jumped out to a quick 16-4 lead on the
rainbow 3-pointers of Harrisburg's Bryan Majors and Central Dauphin's Jalon
Bransford, as the duo canned four consecutive 3s to start the contest.
Maryland used the high-flying theatrics of Chris Moore and Darryl Webb to
keep the contest close, trailing 59-51 at the half. UMBC recruit Justin Fry
of West Perry started and had four points before halftime.
In the second half, Maryland got its running game started, as Webb, Moore
and Courtland Bluford turned on the jets and ran away with the game. The
trio split 40 points in the second half, triggering an 18-4 run out of the
gate to take the lead. Webb, of Maryland AAA state champ Long Reach, led the
Maryland team with 27 points. Bluford of Pallotti High, an Assumption
University recruit, added 26 in the winning effort.
"I enjoyed tonight," said Fry, who finished with 12 points. "These are some
very good players on both sides, but I'm not in as good a basketball shape
for this type of game as I should be."
Pennsylvania struggled to hit shots and committed numerous turnovers in the
second half which hurt their rally. Fry led the Pennsylvania team with eight
points in the second half, while Alex Franklin of Reading Central Catholic
led the Keystone team with 13 points. Majors tallied 12 points on four
3-pointers
The girls' game featured a Pennsylvania team that jumped out quickly and
never trailed, leading 44-39 at the half. Ritter drained a 3 to put the lead
back to double digits. Bishop McDevitt's and Lancaster Catholic's Stephanie
Keib each scored 12 for Pennsylvania. Heather Empson of Boiling Springs
added six points, all on offensive putbacks.
Towson recruit Omara Parker led the Maryland
team with 20 points. Temple recruit Kristie Watkins added 13, 11 in the
second half.
The first boys' contest was a battle between the East and West, with the
East team winning the high-scoring affair 116-106 in a contest that
featuring much 1-on-1 offense, plenty of turnovers and very little defense.
The East squad was led by Kyle Purvis of Lancaster Catholic, who led all
scorers with 29 points. Trinity's Anthony Gabriel tallied 14 and added two
thunderous dunks in the last half as his squad battled to maintain its lead.
Adam Love of Red Land added eight points and had several assists for the
West team, and Jeff Berkey of Shanksville-Stoney Creek led the west with 25
points.
In the second contest, the Mid-Penn girls comprised the North team and
squared off against a South squad of fellow Mid-Penn competitors. In most
all-star games there is generally little defense played, but the North
squad, which included the Carlisle trio of Julie Henninger, Jovanna Browne,
and Ashley Knight, Mechanicsburg's Lauren Conner, Cedar Cliff's Lauren Tucci
and Northern's C.C. Nicodemus, played a scrappy style of defense and
frustrated the South squad into turnovers.
The North controlled the boards and turned repeated offensive rebounds into
points. Browne led the team with 16 points, while Henninger and Knight each
added nine and Conner tallied eight.
CV's Megan Sollenberger led the South with 11 points.
"I am so sore right now," Sollenberger said. "I have bruises from a soccer
game earlier (Saturday). I'm not sure where they came from because I
couldn't feel anything in that rain."
"This was fun," Henninger said. "You can't do any amount of running to
prepare yourself for this. It was nice to play with this group of girls."
"I'm running track, but I'm doing the throws and the sprints, so I'm not
doing any running for this," Nicodemus said.
Tucci got her final chance to play an organized game under her coach and
father, Matt Tucci.
"I was trying to run all of Carlisle's offenses since I had three girls in
there," Lauren Tucci said. "This was my final game of basketball in high
school. I didn't have any legs and although I didn't score, I enjoyed it. I
have played with everyone on this team at some point growing up, in school
or camp."
She got a chance to watch fellow Cedar Cliff senior Andy Hawk dominate the
third contest, as he talllied 20 points to lead the South to a 73-58 win
over the North.. The Harrisburg Academy duo of Devin Dadigan and Min Sol
totaled eight points, with Sol pouring in six.
Franklin won the Slam Dunk championship at halftime of the main game. He had
a specific fan throw an alley-oop pass from the stands for him to grab and
throw down. Bluford finished second, only because he couldn't land his final
attempt, a reverse 360. His semifinal dunk involved throwing the ball off
the back wall of the stands, grabbing it on the bounce and throwing it down.
The final of the three sets of All-Star games are Thursday at Alvernia
college in Reading, featuring the Mid-Penn stars against the Berks County
Stars. The girls' game tips off at 7 p.m. with the boys' contest at 8:15.