More BCHS Basketball

• PrepZone: Monday basketball notebook
• Boys basketball: Naples, Barron Collier move game scheduled for Friday
• Prep basketball: Seahawks boys, girls split against Barron, Gulf Coast

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Share and Enjoy [?]

The area’s best high school basketball players put on a show for the fans Wednesday at the third annual Naplesnews.com Collier County senior all-star games at Community School.

It might not have been the most fundamentally sound basketball, and defense was in short supply, but it was a show nonetheless.

With 26 boys all-stars, there was no shortage of fresh legs, which led to a run-and-gun, high-scoring affair. The girls, with just 10 players and no substitutes, couldn’t afford such a fast-paced game, but fought through heavy legs to put up an equally high-scoring second half.

The boys played two 20-minute halves, and both Barron Collier coach Bryan Crislip, who led the North, and Golden Gate’s Joe Consolino, coach of the South, substituted five new players every four minutes.

“It’s a lot of fun because I know all these guys,” said Community School’s Kyle Petersen, the leading scorer on the night. “I’ve played with them before on AAU, so it was good.”

The South team, which used a late first-half run to a double-digit lead, held off the North to win 110-93.

On the girls’ side, the Gray team won a 64-57 contest over the White squad. Because of a shortage of players, the girls from the three schools represented, Barron Collier, Golden Gate and St. John Neumann, were split into two teams prior to tip-off.

When the boys teams got serious, the game turned into a head-to-head battle between Petersen and Lely’s Jared Stewart.

Petersen, the Class 2A Player of the Year, scored his North team’s first eight points of the first half and the first six of the second. He finished with 39 points, including nine 3-pointers.

“I was relaxed. It’s a relaxed game,” Petersen said. “I wanted to make a last statement before I go on to college.”

Stewart, son of his Trojans coach Don Stewart, scored 26 points — “I thought I counted 30,” he said afterward — including three treys of his own.

It was a good time for Stewart, too, but he relished the victory, more than his team-leading point total.

“I wanted to win and keep (the title) down south,” Stewart said. “I’m a competitor. I’m ready to play every time I put that jersey on.”

His jersey Wednesday held a special meaning. Stewart chose his No. 5 gray shirt in honor of his former football and basketball teammate Ereck Plancher. Plancher, a football player at Central Florida, collapsed and died after a workout Tuesday.

All but two of the Collier County all-starts, boys and girls, scored in their respective games.

A makeshift draft before the girls game pitted teammates against each other and gave the game the relaxed atmosphere and friendly banter of a scrimmage.

After a sometimes sluggish first half, the teams combined to score more points in the third quarter than they did in the first half.

“It was so much fun,” St. John Neumann’s Kendra Kobza said. “No one took it too seriously, but they played hard at the same time. It was just, ‘Everybody get out there and have fun.’

“It was a great way to end senior year.”

Still, the players were trying to win, and no one tried harder than Barron Collier’s Kelsey Assarian. The Class 5A state finals MVP dominated her shorter competition, scoring 30 points and grabbing 32 rebounds.

The 6-foot-1 Assarian led her Gray team, which was originally the North team, to a 64-57 victory over the White squad, formerly the South.

Though she rarely cracked a smile on the court, Assarian insists she was having fun.

“I just play focused like that,” Assarian said. “We were all messing around out there. We weren’t really too intense at all the whole game.”

The three participants selected to the game from Lely were unable to attend after Plancher’s death. Palmetto Ridge’s players also were unable to attend.

The solution: split the remaining 10 players from Barron Collier, Golden Gate and St. John Neumann right down the middle. The result saw Class 5A champion teammates Assarian and Dani Johnson go head-to-head.

Sarah Wickham and Tiffany Burgess from Neumann went up against fellow Celtics and 2A state finalists Kelsey McGregor and Kobza, who switched from white jerseys to gray before tip-off. Golden Gate players Keya Coleman and Merline Jacques switched to the Gray team and faced off against Kassandra Jean-Louis and Asha Tavernier.

With five players to a side and no substitutes, the all-stars played their own version of iron man basketball.

Make that iron girl basketball.

“I’m pretty tired,” said Wickham, who also runs for Neumann’s track team. “I guess track doesn’t keep me in good basketball shape.”

Wickham, who finished fourth in Class 2A Player of the Year voting, had a chance to flash her skills against Assarian, the only other player on the court with as many accolades as the Celtics’ star. The University of Tampa recruit led her White team with 24 points.

“Overall, it was fun. I had a good time,” Wickham said. “It was nice going against (Assarian) because we only get to see Barron once during the season.”

Boys

SOUTH (110)

Marco Ruidiaz (Naples) 2 2-2 6, Justo Vasquez (Lely) 2 0-0 5, Rashad Mathis (Golden Gate) 5 1-2 13, Jared Stewart (L) 10 3-4 26, Carey Butterworth (N) 2 0-0 6, Bobby Davis (St. John Neumann) 3 0-0 8, Tyler Gubbrud (N) 6 0-0 12, Peter St. Fort (GG) 1 1-2 4, Robby Waterman (GG) 2 0-0 2, Sonny Dillinger (SJN) 3 0-0 6, Brian Provost (SJN) 2 0-0 6, Donnell Wilson (GG) 4 1-2 9. Totals: 42 8-12 110.

NORTH (93)

Sean Thebaud (Palmetto Ridge) 2 0-0 5, Rossini Morisma (Gulf Coast) 6 1-1 15, Sahens Exeant (Immokalee) 1 2-2 4, Alexi Lowry (Barron Collier) 2 0-0 4, Joey Fleming (Community School) 0 1-2 1, Chase Beatty (CSN) 2 0-0 4, Tony Leggett (PR) 3 0-0 7, Jarrin Warren (IM) 2 1-2 5, Jared Stessen-Reuter (GC) 0 0-0 0, Ross Gottschalk (CSN) 1 0-0 2, Eli Herrera (PR) 0 0-0 0, Kyle Petersen (CSN) 14 2-4 39, Matty Baker (BC) 2 0-0 4, Andrew Dunko (GC) 1 0-2 2. Totals: 36 7-13 93.

South 56 54 -- 110

North 43 50 -- 93

3-pointers: South 13 (Stewart 3, Mathis 2, Butterworth 2, Davis 2, Provost 2, Vasquez, St. Fort), North 13 (Petersen 9, Morisma 2, Thebaud, Leggett).

Girls

WHITE (57)

Dani Johnson (BC) 4 0-0 11, Tiffany Burgess (SJN) 1 1-4 3, Sarah Wickham (SJN) 11 1-2 24, Kassandra Jean-Louis (GG) 3 0-2 6, Asha Tavernier (GG) 6 0-0 13. Totals 25 2-7 57.

GRAY (64)

Keya Coleman (GG) 3 1-2 10, Merline Jacques (GG) 0 0-4 0, Kesley Assarian (BC) 14 2-5 30, Kelsey McGregor (SJN) 3 0-0 6, Kendra Kobza (SJN) 7 4-5 20. Totals 27 7-18 64.

White 11 6 19 21 -- 57

Gray 10 17 22 15 -- 64

3-pointers: White 5 (Johnson 3, Tavernier, Wickham), Gray 3 (Kobza 2, Coleman).