North downs South 84-73 for Boys’ All-Star Game win
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ahsaa.com) – Spain Park High School rising senior Austin Wiley scored 30 points and cleared 15 rebounds to lift the North to an 84-73 victory in the 63rd AHSAA North-South All-Star basketball game Wednesday night at Alabama State University’s Dunn-Oliver Arena.
The 6-foot-11 Wiley earned North MVP honors going 14-of-18 from the field with most buckets coming on crowd-pleasing dunks as the North, coached by Cale Black of Geraldine and Chris Randall of White Plains, to the 16th win in the series since it was resumed in 1997. The North-South series began in 1953 with the North winning 52-46 and was played annually until 1964 when a large-school and small-school game format created two games each year through 1984.
The AHSAA series, hosted by the AHSADCA, was discontinued after 1984 and resumed as part of the AHSAA Summer Conference and All-Star Sports Week in 1997. Since then, the North has gone 16-4 winning 12 in a row from 2003-2014 before the South snapped that streak last year with a 712-65 win.
The North led virtually the entire game Wednesday night as Wiley dominated inside thanks in part to outstanding guard play from Tyrique Purvis of Decatur and Khalil Johnson of Cleveland. Johnson, a 6-8 guard, handed out eight assists including one 60-foot throw to Wiley at the other end of the court for one of his many dunks. Purvis added nine rebounds and five assists.
Jakolbe McClendon of Oxford and Kobe McClain of Ramsay also added 14 points each. The North shot 60.3 percent from the field (35-of-58) and out-rebounded the much shorter South squad 52-25.
LaFayette’s Jatarvious Whitlow was named South MVP scoring points, dishing out five assists and pulling down eight rebounds. Jaelin Fleming and Terrell Harris of Northview added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the South, coached by their own Cougars Coach Janasky Fleming and LaFayette’s Obadiah Threadgill IV. Maplesville’s Terence Dunlap added nine points.
The 57th North-South Football All-Star Game and North-South Volleyball All-Star Match will close out the All-Star Week competition Thursday at Cramton Bowl and AUM, respectively. The football game will kick off at 7 p.m., and the volleyball match will tip at 4.
