GAINESVILLE — After an intense week of state finals, the 2017-18 prep basketball season came to a little more relaxed end Saturday when northeast Georgia senior standouts took part in the seventh North Georgia All-Star Classic at the Gainesville gym.
The afternoon-long festivities were highlighted by girls and boys all-star games. Those were preceded by 3-point shooting contests for both girls and boys, skills contests for both girls and boys, and a dunk competition for the boys.
In the 3-point contests, North Hall's Natalie Nixon won the girls event while Jeremiah Crumley of Dawson County won the boys event.
In the skills contests, Flowery Branch’s Lexie Sengkhemmee won the girls and Donovan Hernandez of Chestatee won the boys event.
As for the dunk contest, Dylan Orr of Banks County held off Ka’Juan Hale of Gainesville winning with a windmill throw-down in the finals.
Orr, a North Georgia-signee, said the dunk contest was not as easy as it looks on television.
“It’s definitely a lot harder than it looks,” he said. “But it was a lot of fun. Kind of surprised I won that. It was just another chance to put on the uniform. It was a lot of fun to hang out with these guys. It was an amazing experience to be out there with these great players.”
Hale was a late entry in the dunk contest and missed on a couple of attempts that would have brought the crowd to its feet.
“That’s not that easy,” he said of the dunk contest. “I wasn’t going to do it at first but I changed my mind. I’m glad I did because it was pretty cool. It was tough but fun.”
In the All-Star games the rosters consisted of Hall County standouts (South) against northeast Georgia area standouts (North). The North team won the girls game 88-61 as Buford’s Tory Ozment, a Michigan State-signee, was named the MVP. In the boys game, the South team won a 109-96 shootout with Will Richter of Johnson and Flowery Branch's Patsheko Lutumba sharing the MVP honors.
The MVP was awarded to the leading scorer of the winning team.
In the girls game, West Hall’s Anna McKendree sank a long 3-pointer to open the game but that would be the South’s only lead. The North team answered with seven straight points and never trailed again.
East Hall’s Carly Winters, a Georgia State-signee, poured in 12 points for the South and said it was a nice way to finish out the high school experience.
“It was so much fun to play on the same time with all the (Hall) county girls,” she said. “It was a great experience and I’m glad I took part in it. It was a good way to end it.”
Sengkhemmee said she learned a lot about her fellow local competitors during the process.
“We’re usually playing against each other so it was fun to be out there on the same team with them,” she said. “I learned that they all like to have fun like we did (at Flowery Branch). It was a lot of fun to finish things this way.”
Ozment led the North team with 19 points. Jazmine Allen of Jefferson had 11 points and North Forsyth’s Catherine Shope and Banks County's Allsion Smith each had nine points.
Flowery Branch’s Taniyah Worth, an Alabama-signee, led the South with 15 points.
In the boys game, the South opened the game with seven consecutive points and never trailed. The North team managed to get within six points in the second half but Richter hit a pair of 3-pointers to extend the lead back to double digits the rest of the way.
Richter opened the game with a 3-pointer and started the South on its opening run. He and Lutumba both finished with 13 points.
“It was an amazing experience to a part of,” said Richter, who is considering offers from Oglethorpe University, Western Carolina, and Alabama-Huntsville. “I’m friends with some of the guys on the other (Hall County) teams so it was fun to be on the same court with them on the same team for a change.”
Orr led the North squad with 15 points and fellow Banks County teammate Darius Bonds had 11 points for the North.
