ALL-STAR SPORTS WEEK: North maintains dominance in basketball; South boys win tennis

The North swept the South in basketball in Tuesday’s All-Star Sports Week action. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Catholic’s LJ Green has been a basketball star much of his life, but has only tried his hand at football the last two seasons with the Knights. 

A 25-4 record by the Knights in those two years has contributed to Green’s rise in popularity among college football recruiters. He plans to commit to a football school on Aug. 1 after narrowing his choices to Georgia Tech, Florida State, UAB, Marshall, Liberty, Arkansas State and Troy. 

First, however, he had a date with the Alabama All-Stars Sports Week boys’ basketball game as a member of the South squad. 

“This is really a blessing, not being in the gym as much, competing with the best of the best,” he said. When asked if his devotion to football was affecting his basketball performance, he replied, “not really, because I wasn’t getting the chance to run up and down the floor, but it was a good experience.”

Green played only three and a half minutes, all in the first half, but it’s doubtful a full game would have made much of a difference as the North manhandled the South 101-91 at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl on Tuesday night.

It marked only the sixth time in the 69-year history of the all-star game that a team reached the century mark and was the 19th win by the North all-stars in the 25-year history of the Alabama All-Stars Sports Week version of the game. (The North-South game existed in an earlier version from 1953-84).

North MVP Paul Lanzi of Chelsea scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half, drilling four 3-pointers to turn a close game into a 16-point lead at the half. The South would trim the deficit to seven points on several occasions in the second half but could never get closer.

The North was a bit short-handed, which made the win even more impressive. There were only 10 players on the North squad as opposed to 15 on the South as five North players failed to arrive on Tuesday morning for the game, including the Jacksonville duo of John Broom and Cade Phillips, Mountain Brook’s Kyle Layton, Grissom’s RJ Johnson and Florence’s Jordyn Turner-Durley.

The North hit 10 of 20 3-pointers in the first half to open up a lead as the South connected on just 2 of 13 long-range shots. 

Ramsay’s Kerrington Kiel led the North with 18 points and seven rebounds, followed by Lanzi and Tyson Sexton with 15 points each, Win Miller with 14 and Alex Odam and Jacob St. Clair with 12 points each. 

The South got most of its points from the paint as South MVP Tyler Thomas of Cottage Hill led his squad with 16 points, followed by Zidkijah Edmond with 15 and Thomas Doyd and Patrick Screws with 10 points each. 

Autaugaville’s Jaden Nixon was 1 of 5 from the floor, finishing with three points, one assist, two turnovers and one blocked shot. 

“It was a good experience,” Nixon said. “There were times you had to know you weren’t still playing 1A ball, the size difference, but I’m used to it in AAU. It was a good game, we just had an off night.”

Then there was Green, who sat on the bench as his 14 teammates subbed in and out every couple of minutes in the second half. His final stat line listed one turnover, no shots in three minutes, 22 seconds of first-half action before he was totally ignored in the second half. 

“They weren’t playing me,” he said. “I don’t know what was going on.”

North girls top South

For much of the first half, the South all-star girls’ basketball team held its own with the North, surviving six 3-pointers with some defense and good shooting of its own.

The South even forged into the lead late in the first half, taking a 36-33 advantage into the locker room. 

In the end, however, the game ended like all the rest in the 25-year history of the Alabama All-Stars Sports Week as the North pulled away for a 75-52 victory to win for the 22nd time in the series.

Prattville Christian Academy’s Hannah Jones scored nine of her game-high 12 points in the second half and finished with eight rebounds to earn South Most Valuable Player honors in Tuesday’s game at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl. 

“Honestly, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said. “I wanted to win, but I’m grateful Jesus has blessed me with this.”

Jones was one of four local players in the game, along with PCA teammate CoCo Thomas, St. James guard KK Hall and Trinity guard Emma Kate Smith but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome as the South gradually watched their lead slip away with a 21-8 run by the North in the third quarter. 

“I felt like I pushed myself,” Jones said. “I saw the score getting down in the second half and I was like, ‘I’m not going to let this stop me from doing what I need to do to try and help the team win.’ I talked to my teammates and told them, ‘Guys, we’ve got this, let’s just push right here. Even the score is down, it doesn’t mean we need to be down on each other.’”

Hall, last in a rotation of players off the bench, played six minutes and failed to score, but assisted on a basket. Her arm was hit in the act of shooting a 3-pointer on her first attempt and her third and final shot was along the baseline in traffic but even a shortage of time and points didn’t detract from the experience.

“It was amazing,” she said. “Just coming out here, playing with the best competition in Alabama, even if I didn’t score it was a great opportunity. It’s a little different from just playing a high school team, but it was great.”

Smith, who made her only attempt with a 3-pointer midway through the first quarter, said the biggest thrill was getting to play alongside Thomas, Jones and Hall. 

“I loved it,” she said. “The rotations were a little different. I don’t think I was in with KK that much but I was in with Hannah a couple of times and with CoCo. But it’s fun being on their team, even being in warmups and getting to talk to them as a teammate. It’s fun to get to know them.”

Smith spent several minutes after the game, hanging out with the North players who comprise her travel ball team. 

“I really enjoyed it,” she said. “It was interesting, seeing the girls play against each other. Like, me and Cali (Smallwood of Susan Moore) are on the same travel team, so it was weird playing against her. Literally, the day before you’re practicing for all these AAU tournaments together, then the next day you’ve got to play each other.

“This is a lot more like travel ball, like AAU, because the pace is faster and you have better ball handlers, better defenders, people who are really fast. It’s definitely a different feel from high school.”

Thomas finished with six points, five rebounds, a pair of assists and a blocked shot. Jones also had an assist (to Thomas) and a blocked shot along with her points. 

Kallie Tinker of Pisgah led the North with 12 points. Guntersville’s Olivia Vandergriff was the North MVP with nine points, six rebounds and six steals. 

The loss continued a drought for the South, which has now lost five consecutive games in the series and 14 of the last 15.

 South boys win first all-star tennis match

Montgomery Academy’s Whit Davis won his singles match and teamed up with LAMP’s Edward Lee to win a doubles match to help the South all-stars win their first-ever tennis event in the Alabama All-Stars Sports Week at Lagoon Park Tennis Center on Tuesday.

Davis was selected as the most valuable player for the South team after his performance.

The North all-star girls won their match with the South to remain unbeaten in the series which started in 2019 and was resumed in 2021.   

Davis, playing No. 1 singles, defeated Hoover’s Samuel Sellers 6-4, 6-3, while Lee won No. 2 singles by defeating Vestavia Hills’ Jake Anthony 6-1, 6-1. Davis and Lee defeated Sellers and Anthony in No.1 doubles 6-4, 6-1. 

It was the only doubles match won by the South all-stars, but there were three other singles winners to secure the victory. At No. 3, Spanish Fort’s Goodwin Holley won, while at No. 4, Tova Rios of St. James defeated Guntersville’s Elisha Sims 6-7, 6-4, (10-4). At No. 5, Philip Brutkiewicz of St. Paul’s Episcopal also won. 

In the girls’ action, Auburn High’s Claire Bosman earned most valuable player honors for the South by securing two of the three points recorded by the all-stars. Bosman won at No. 1 singles, defeating Northridge’s Channing Vick 6-1, 6-1, then teamed with UMS-Wright’s Emmy Eckert to win at No. 1 doubles 6-3, 6-2, over Vick and Nancy Chen of Vestavia Hills. 

The South all-stars picked up their other point at No. 5 singles, where Enterprise’s Katie Nelson defeated Cullman’s Katra Peterson 6-3, 6-4. 

ALABAMA ALL-STARS SPORTS WEEK

Monday

Boys golf -- North 62.5, South 27.5 (North leads series 3-0)

Girls golf -- North 47, South 25 (North leads series 2-1)

Baseball -- South 5-2, North 0-2 (North leads series 23-16-3)                 

Tuesday

Girls’ cross country – North 19, South 38 (North leads series 3-2)

Boys’ cross country –South 22, North 33 (North leads series 3-2)

Girls’ tennis – North 6, South 3 (North leads series 3-0)

Boys’ tennis – South 6, North 3 (North leads series 2-1)

Girls’ basketball – North 75, South 52 (North leads series 22-3)

Boys’ basketball – North 101, South 91 (North leads series 50-29)

Wednesday

Softball, Lagoon Park, 4 p.m.

Girls soccer, Emory Folmar Soccer Complex, 5 p.m.

Boys soccer, Emory Folmar Soccer Complex, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Volleyball, Multiplex, 4 p.m.