MBASK: AC Stars sprint past Nac County, 89-52
during Thursday night's Pineywoods high school all-star game. (Photo
by John Krueger)
NACOGDOCHES, Tx -- A balanced scoring attack, along with tenacious defense was the key for the Angelina County Boys' All-Stars as they blew out to a 30-4 lead at the end of the first quarter before coasting to an 89-52 win over the Nacogdoches County All-Stars in the Third Annual KTRE Pineywoods Showdown played Thursday night here in Dragon Coliseum.
The victory kept the Angelina County All-Stars perfect against their Nacogdoches County counterparts in the third year of the event. Half of the proceeds raised was donated to the Burke Center.
All 11 players on the Angelina County roster scored in the contest, with four of them scoring in double figures and seven of them scoring at least seven points.
Two Hudson players led the scoring for the AC All-Stars with Ja'Lexius Davis scoring 14 first half points and finishing with a game-high 16. Teammate Jeremy Lowe added 15 points, while Dylan Fletcher (Zavalla) chipped in 11 points and J.J. Baldwin (Lufkin) pitched in 10.
Other scorers from Angelina County were Dexter Wright (Lufkin) with eight points, Isaac Guillory (Diboll) and Jack Ellis (Huntington) with seven points apiece, Ryan Mitchell (Zavalla) and John McClain (Lufkin) dropped in five each, Dominique Rodgers (Lufkin) scored three and Dettrick Hamilton (Diboll) pitched in two points.
Ten of the 11 players on the Nacogdoches County roster scored in the game, but the only player in double figures was Nacogdoches' Tucker Briley with 12 points. Clint Lowery (Douglass) threw in seven points, Chad Huckaby (Martinsville), Joseph Blount (Chireno) and Dillon Gartman (Chireno) each managed six points, Tyler Khan (Central Heights) and Chris Campbell (Douglass) knocked down four, Jake Griffin (Woden) scored three and A.J. Bryan (Garrison) and Nick Hiebert (Central Heights) had two each.
Angelina County blew out to its 26-point first quarter lead by forcing 12 Nacogdoches County turnovers in the first eight minutes, while committing only two on offense. AC sprinted up and down the court, scoring 18 points in the point in the quarter as the southern stars scored 23 of the first 25 points to easily lead at the end of the quarter.
Nacogdoches County managed to put the ball in the hoop more consistently in the second period as Blount scored six points and Briley threw in five. But eight Angelina County players scored in the stanza as the all-stars from the southern county outscored their northern counterparts 24-18 to lead 54-22 at the break.
Nacogdoches County All-Stars committed 19 first-half turnovers and finished with 29. Angelina County committed only 12 for the entire 32 minutes of action.
Nacogdoches County outscored Angelina County 19-11 in the third quarter, mainly because of an 11-0 run over a span of 1:23 late in the period. But Angelina County still led 70-41 heading into the stretch run.
Lowe and Fletcher each scored six points in the final quarter for Angelina County as the AC All-Stars outscored their opponents from Nacogdoches County 19-11 in the final period to coast to the 37-point win.