Salinas
– The good people at Hartnell College are likely ordering new
rims for their basketball court following Saturday’s 19th annual
Kiwanis High School Basketball Classic.
Salinas – The good people at Hartnell College are likely ordering new rims for their basketball court following Saturday’s 19th annual Kiwanis High School Basketball Classic.
With the likes of two-time TCAL MVP Kyle Sharp of Hollister, along with Austin Swift and Cliff Sammet of the state champion Santa Cruz squad, on the court at the same time playing for the North team, Saturday’s game between the North and South All Stars featured a lot of above-the-rim action.
The contest was also highlighted by great assists from Hollister point guard Eric Davis and Santa Cruz’s Junior Russell, as well as some clutch shooting.
In the end, it was the North which came out on top, 108-82.
“It was fun and it’s always nice to win,” said North coach Bud Ogden, head coach at Gilroy High. “But you can really see how that Santa Cruz team was able to win state. Those kids are very talented and they play very well together.”
The lone player selected from Ogden’s CCS playoff team was Calvin Kretz. The Gilroy senior played tough defense and hit a jumper in the second half.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Hollister’s Sharp, who finished the game with 19 points.
“It was my last high school game and I was glad to go out like that.”
Sharp and Swift, who also scored 19 in the game, will be playing together next year at the University of Montana.
While Sharp spent most of the game battling down low with North Salinas’ Eric Petty and Pacific Grove’s A.J. Walker, Hollister’s Davis was putting on a show of his own in the transition game.
When he wasn’t pulling up for mid-range jumpers, Davis dazzled the crowd with his passes in traffic and his ability to instantly change direction with the ball, often leaving his defender going the other way as he drove into the lane.
With about a minute left to play and the North team well ahead, both teams decided to abandon their defensive play, which had been fairly intense for an all-star game, and cleared the way for the high flyers.
Sharp threw down a two-handed dunk, North Salinas’ Marco Ramos soared for a through-the-legs reverse and Eric Petty got way up for a couple of one-handers. Once the game had officially ended, fans gathered around the perimeter and watched more dunks from the high-flying stars.
Ross leads South All-Stars
The girls’ game didn’t go so smoothly for the North squad. Because the team’s roster was put together only a little more than a week ago, many players simply couldn’t attend, like Gilroy’s Amanda Link and Kendall Costa.
This coupled with the fact that the team was only able to practice together twice, might have played a part in the North’s 77-40 loss.
Of course, with Gilroy native Jessica Ross of Notre Dame on the South squad, it might not have mattered anyway. The TCAL MVP led her squad past a North team coached by Hollister head coach Al Rowe. At one point, the North had five Haybalers on the floor together.
Anzar High’s Erika Rodriguez led the North in scoring with 10 points.
For the Hollister athletes, Jaime Hall led the way with five points, Jaime Flores had four, Crystina Osborne had three and Dani Andrewson had two.
“It was something else,” said Rowe of Saturday’s game. “What a good experience. The two practices that we had were just awesome practices.
“You don’t have to repeat yourself at all, they already had a good concept of what it was they needed to do and they went out there and did it.”
