Indiana Senior All-Stars vs. Indiana Junior All-Stars
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The annual Indiana All-Star series continued on Wednesday night at Mount Vernon (Fortville) High School as the Indiana Senior All-Stars faced off with their Junior All-Star counterparts. Unfortunately, both teams were at less than full strength due to a myriad…
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Continue ReadingThe annual Indiana All-Star series continued on Wednesday night at Mount Vernon (Fortville) High School as the Indiana Senior All-Stars faced off with their Junior All-Star counterparts. Unfortunately, both teams were at less than full strength due to a myriad of reasons. For starters, Indiana Mr. Basketball Braden Smith Braden Smith 6'2" | PG Woodlan | 2024 State IN (Westfield H.S. 2022) is still out for a few weeks as he recovers from offseason foot surgery. The future Purdue Boilermaker put on a show in pregame warmups with dunks that made it appear that he may give it a go, but he will continue to recover before fully returning to the court. Additionally, Indiana University signee C.J. Gunn (Lawrence North H.S. 2022) was out due to his graduation ceremony and D’Ante Davis (Warren Central H.S. 2022) has already moved into Seton Hall making him miss the All-Star game.
Already down to just 10 active players, the seniors also lost Connor Essegian (Central Noble H.S. 2022) just a couple minutes into the game after he came down awkwardly while being fouled on a three-pointer. The Wisconsin signee was on crutches later in the evening, but his overall status remains unclear. On the junior side, Ashton Williamson Ashton Williamson 6'2" | PG Gary 21st Century | 2023 State #287 Nation IN (Gary 21st Century 2023) was not in attendance.
For the first couple of minutes after the opening tip it looked like the Junior All-Stars were going to run away with it. Their size advantage inside was evident and they jumped out to a quick 11-0 lead. Essegian hit two of three free throws before exiting the game with his ankle injury to get the seniors on the board and stop the run. Over the course of the rest of the game the seniors imposed their will pretty effectively.
It was Myles Colvin Myles Colvin 6'5" | SG Heritage Christian | 2023 State #51 Nation IN (Heritage Christian 2023) and Zane Doughty Zane Doughty 6'8" | C Ben Davis | 2023 State IN (Ben Davis H.S. 2023) leading the way for the juniors as they tried to remain on top, but a balanced scoring attack from the seniors eventually overcame their early deficit to take a 43-41 halftime lead. Neither team was shooting it well from beyond the arc, they were a combined 6-29 from three at the half, but a couple of late threes from Ryan Conwell (Pike H.S. 2022) pushed the seniors on top at the break.
The second half was a game of runs. The seniors would push ahead by double-figures thanks to runs sparked by Javan Buchanan (Lafayette Jefferson H.S. 2022), Jaxon Edwards (Cathedral H.S. 2022), and Peter Suder (Carmel H.S. 2022). However, the juniors always had an answer to keep it close. Mason Jones Mason Jones 6'7" | PF Valparaiso | 2023 State IN (Valparaiso H.S. 2023) was excellent in the second half and Markus Burton Markus Burton 5'11" | PG Penn | 2023 State #190 Nation IN (Penn H.S. 2023) had a good stretch in there as well.
The juniors would pull as close as four points down the stretch before one last push from the seniors put the game on ice for good. Conwell had a couple of late buckets to seal it and Buchanan had one more emphatic dunk at the end. The Indiana Senior All-Stars came away with a 90-75 victory over the Junior All-Stars.
Javan Buchanan, an Indiana Wesleyan signee, led the senior squad with 15 points while South Florida bound Ryan Conwell added 14 points. Four more seniors were in double figures including Jaxon Edwards who scored 13 points and pulled down an insane 19 rebounds. Edwards is headed to Murray State. Rounding out the double-figure scorers were Peter Suder (Bellarmine) with 11, Jalen Jackson (Illinois-Chicago) with 10, and Tayshawn Comer (Eastern Kentucky) with 10.
On the juniors side, Purdue commit Myles Colvin Myles Colvin 6'5" | SG Heritage Christian | 2023 State #51 Nation IN scored 15 points while Zane Doughty Zane Doughty 6'8" | C Ben Davis | 2023 State IN recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Mason Jones Mason Jones 6'7" | PF Valparaiso | 2023 State IN chipped in 13 points and Markus Burton Markus Burton 5'11" | PG Penn | 2023 State #190 Nation IN and Jaron Tibbs Jaron Tibbs 6'4" | SF Cathedral | 2023 State IN each scored 10 points.
The Senior All-Stars will begin their series with the Kentucky All-Stars over the weekend. Friday night they will face-off down in Owensboro, Kentucky before returning to the Hoosier state on Saturday for a game at Southport. Indiana holds a 40-10 lead in the series against Kentucky.