Mix an all-star basketball team with a coach who likes a fast pace, and the results should be interesting, to say the least.
The South squad looks to light it up in tonight's North-South All-Star Basketball Classic at the air-conditioned South Charleston Community Center. Tipoff is set for around 7:45, following the skills competitions at 7 (free throw, 3-point, slam dunk contests).
There certainly should be no shortage of shots for the South, which features six players who averaged better than 20 points during their senior seasons (see roster, Page 2B). That's quite all right with South co-coach Dwayne "Ernie'' Sowards, whose Hurricane teams generally try to outscore the opposition anyway.
Robert C. Byrd’s Steve Collins (right) drives on Bridgeport’s Bryant Irwin during North All-Star practice.
"It's absolute fun,'' said Sowards, who serves as co-coach with Bluefield's Craig Havens. "Everybody knows how to play, so the worst thing we can do is put them in a pattern to try and get it.''
The South can call on players like Akron-bound Brett McClanahan of Nitro, Damien Tunstalle and Travis Parkulo of Class AAA champion Woodrow Wilson and Mountain State Athletic Conference player of the year Malik Witten of Capital. Nine of the South's 12 players earned first-team all-state honors in their respective classes last season.
"I think we'll absolutely get up and down the floor,'' said Sowards, who played in the 1980 game for Winfield. "If you pass too many times, they can steal it. We definitely want to outshoot them. We want to play this like soccer or hockey - if we get more shots, we should win.
"The thing we need to do is draw help and kick it to the open guy. If you don't kick it to the open guy, we've got plenty of guys on the bench who will. It seems like they give up the ball when they're double-teamed, so I think we'll get along fine.''
The North, as is often the case, may have fewer "name'' players to call on than the South, but the team with the best athletes doesn't always win in an all-star setting, as the undermanned North proved with a shocking 88-74 victory in 2002.
Another thing going for the North is the presence of 6-foot-7 Bryant Irwin of Bridgeport, the West Virginia high school player of the year who is headed to St. Joseph's of the Atlantic 10. Irwin led the state in scoring (31.0 points) and averaged 11 rebounds.
Mix an all-star basketball team with a coach who likes a fast pace, and the results should be interesting, to say the least.
The South squad looks to light it up in tonight's North-South All-Star Basketball Classic at the air-conditioned South Charleston Community Center. Tipoff is set for around 7:45, following the skills competitions at 7 (free throw, 3-point, slam dunk contests).
There certainly should be no shortage of shots for the South, which features six players who averaged better than 20 points during their senior seasons (see roster, Page 2B). That's quite all right with South co-coach Dwayne "Ernie'' Sowards, whose Hurricane teams generally try to outscore the opposition anyway.
"It's absolute fun,'' said Sowards, who serves as co-coach with Bluefield's Craig Havens. "Everybody knows how to play, so the worst thing we can do is put them in a pattern to try and get it.''
The South can call on players like Akron-bound Brett McClanahan of Nitro, Damien Tunstalle and Travis Parkulo of Class AAA champion Woodrow Wilson and Mountain State Athletic Conference player of the year Malik Witten of Capital. Nine of the South's 12 players earned first-team all-state honors in their respective classes last season.
"I think we'll absolutely get up and down the floor,'' said Sowards, who played in the 1980 game for Winfield. "If you pass too many times, they can steal it. We definitely want to outshoot them. We want to play this like soccer or hockey - if we get more shots, we should win.
"The thing we need to do is draw help and kick it to the open guy. If you don't kick it to the open guy, we've got plenty of guys on the bench who will. It seems like they give up the ball when they're double-teamed, so I think we'll get along fine.''
The North, as is often the case, may have fewer "name'' players to call on than the South, but the team with the best athletes doesn't always win in an all-star setting, as the undermanned North proved with a shocking 88-74 victory in 2002.
Another thing going for the North is the presence of 6-foot-7 Bryant Irwin of Bridgeport, the West Virginia high school player of the year who is headed to St. Joseph's of the Atlantic 10. Irwin led the state in scoring (31.0 points) and averaged 11 rebounds.
Irwin is one of six first-team all-staters playing for the North and one of three carrying 20-plus scoring averages. The others are Ryan Summers of Tyler Consolidated (23.1) and Dusty Mullins of Ravenswood (20.3).
The teams, who arrived in town Thursday, only get two practices apiece, meaning coaches can't install anything more than basic schemes, said North co-coach Mike Crutchfield of Grafton.
"We're just trying to find some combination of players who can click together,'' Crutchfield said, "and try to keep the energy up and play some good defense. You want to allow them to use their individual talents and somehow keep that within some type of framework where they have a feel for where each other is on the court. That's all you're going to accomplish.
"Any time it's an all-star game like this, these players have all had success in their individual schools and you're putting them together when they're not familiar with each other or any type system, so to speak, coming in. But the No. 1 thing you're looking for is to have fun with it, to get out and play some basketball.''
Also coaching the North squad with Crutchfield is Bill Bennett of Robert C. Byrd.
At halftime, the Kanawha County Schoolmasters will award two $1,000 scholarships, one to a player from each squad.
The South leads the series 21-4 since its resumption in 1983, but the North is coming off a 101-91 victory last year that halted a four-game South winning streak.
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