All-State games held at Mountlake Terrace High School

Published 12:07 am Sunday, March 21, 2010

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The big kids are supposed to beat up on the little kids.

Only that was not the case Saturday afternoon in the final marquee matchup of the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association All State Games at Mountlake Terrace High School.

The 3A all stars, featuring three Division I hoops recruits in the starting five, took it to the 4A stars early and held on for a 121-111 victory.

For the most part defense was nowhere to be found but that didn’t mean that these teams didn’t care about the final outcome of the exhibition game.

“We wanted to win to prove that 3A was better than 4A,” Meadowdale’s Connor Hamlett said. “But it was all about having fun.”

The game will likely be the last chance Hamlett—an Oregon State football recruit— will have such talent around him on any basketball court.

“It was a good time with a bunch of great players.” Said Hamlett who started and scored 11 points. “It was a fun last experience of my basketball career.”

Prior to the game Bellevue’s Aaron Bright took home the WIBCA 3A player of the year award. The Stanford-bound point guard was the catalyst for the 3A stars, scoring 16 points and dishing out a game — high eight assists.

The 3A starting five that also included Lakes’ Andre Winston Jr.

(James Madison), Mt. Si’s Tanner Riley (University of Portland) and Bainbridge’s Will Dilorio (2010 Metro league Player of the Year) took it to the 4A stars after Hamlett won the opening tip. Bright hit a 3 from the corner and notched two consecutive assists to give 3A an early 18-5 advantage.

Maco Hamilton of 3A State Champion Union (Vancouver) subbed out the starting five six minutes in. Both teams generally subbed five at a time.

“I like that (starting) lineup,” Hamilton said. “I sure would have liked to coach them for four months.”

With the starters on the bench the 4A reserves that included Jackson’s Ryan Todd made a run, closing to 35-31 before Bright, Hamlett and co.

returned. The margin went in waves the rest of the game with 3A jumping out and 4A coming back. The 4A stars closed to 102-100 with five minutes to go in the game but Riley poured in seven of his team- high 20 points in the next two minutes, including a dunk that put an exclamation point on the win

“That last loss against Kentwood (in the 4A finals) stung a little bit,” Todd said. “It was nice to get out here again and have some fun with talented players one last time.”

Todd, who will play at Division II Seattle Pacific next year, had five points for the 4A stars. Stanwood’s Kale Schmidt—a University of Washington Track and Field recruit— started and was third on the team with 14 points after taking several minutes to get his basketball legs back.

Though the 3A team was impressive the 4A stars were without arguably their best two players. Kentwood’s Josh Smith (UCLA) is already committed to the maximum two all-star games including the McDonalds All-America game. Federal Way’s Cole Dickerson (University of San

Francisco) was the 4A WIBCA player of the year but also committed to

two more prestigious all-star games.

Class 3A 121, Class 4A 111

3A6160—121

4A4863—111

3A Stars—Bright 16, Douglas 6, Winston Jr. 13, Brooks 11, Carel 8, Riley 20, Hamlett 11, Williams 6, Dilorio 16, Herman 14

4A Stars—McCloud 7, Nicholas 21, Schmidt 14, Roberts 12, Todd 5, Rogers 10, Weisner 18, Williams 12, Hope 7, Dunn 5

Three-Point Goals—Bright 4, Weisner 4, D.Williams 3, Brooks 3, Carel 2, Riley 2, Dilorio 2, Herman 2, Schmidt 2, Douglas, Winston Jr. A.

Williams, Roberts, Dunn

Class 2A 110, Class 1A 76

The 2A stars jumped ahead early and 1A never really challenged in the second game of the day. Ephrata’s Patrick Simon — the 2A Player of the Year — hit three of the 2A stars’ 11 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Vashon Island’s John Gage took home 1A POY honors and scored seven points. King’s Dan Cheledinas and Ryan Hoff added 10 and nine points respectively. River Ridge’s (2A) Joel King and Chelan’s (1A) Joe Harris shared the game -high with 17 points.

1A3145—76

2A5456—110

1A Stars—Gage 7, Harris 17, Cheledinas 10, Sebans 5, Hoff 9, Downs 8, Washburn 4, Engstrom 5, Driessen 3, Egbert 7

2A Stars—Simon 13, Buchart 8, Voeut 11, Dickerson 11, Greene 10, Coulter 16, Penn 11, Jones 5, King 17, Atkins 8

Three-Point Goals—Simon 3, Dickerson 3, Harris 2, Gage, Sebans, Driessen, Egbert, Voeut, Coulter, Penn, King, Atkins

Class 1B 82, Class 2B 76

In the first game of the day an error at the scorer’s table meant the teams played two eight-minute quarters followed by a 20-minute “second half”. The 1B all-stars built an early lead and hung on for the six- point win. Cody Flett of Wellpinit was awarded Player of the Year honors for 1B and scored 13 points. Wahkiakum’s Cody Olsen scored six points and took the POY for 2B but Jamie Meyer of Bear Creek stole the show with a game-high 23 points.

1B192142—82

2B112144—76

1B Stars—James 9, Pumphry 1, Louie 6, Flett 13, Shaholter 5, Daniels 7, McNamara 0, Maley 15, Moss 10, Miller 16

2B Stars—Willey 10, Blankenbeckler 2, Olsen 6, Estes 2, Pynch 12, Meyer 23, Burkhalter 5, Stevenson 10, Joey Vetter 2, McGee 4

Three-Point Goals—Meyer 3, Pynch 2, Willey 2, Daniels 2, James, Flett, Miller