Boys game: Another year, another Star-News Victory.
Boys photo gallery by Keith Birmingham
Pasadena High School’s Joseph Henson and Darius Johnson had 14 and 13 points, respectively, and the Star-News boys team won for the fifth time in six years, 101-85, at the annual Tribune/Star-News High School All-Star Basketball Classic at Azusa Pacific University Felix Event Center on Saturday night. “This means a lot,” said Henson, who was selected Star-News MVP after scoring 11 of his team-high 14 points during the first half. “It was neat that we all came together as a team and got it done.” The Star-News also received 12 points from Blair’s Deon Geary, 11 from Pasadena’s Travis Flye and 10 from Blair’s Katorio Walker. The Tribune, which has lost the previous two encounters, got 17 points and 15 points, respectively, from the Diamond Ranch duo of center Chris Cunningham and guard Garrett Johnson. Cunningham earned team MVP honors. South El Monte’s Manny Acosta scored 10 points for the Tribune. “I just tried to come out here and have fun,” Cunningham said. “This was about playing basketball with my friends, all my boys who I grew up with. It was fun to come out here and play again.” Flye won the slam-dunk competition, with Glendora’s Kos Russell taking the 3-point contest.
Girls Game: Star-News takes control
Girls photo gallery by Keith Birmingham
Living up to pre-game hype is always tough but once again the Tribune/Pasadena Star-News All Star Classic managed to do just that. The Star-News girls basketball team avenged a 20-point loss from last year with a 78-68 win over the Tribune squad. That improves the Star-News record to 4-2 against the girls from the East Valley. “I hope the girls enjoyed the experience as much as I did,” Tribune coach Keith Locklear (Sierra Vista) said. “That Star-News team was pretty loaded. They were long and got a lot of tips and steals.” Led by Brittany Henderson (Muir) Janise Ho (Keppel) Jasmine Gordon (Monrovia) and Maryum Jenkins (Monrovia) the Star-News girls dominated the boards at both ends of the court. “This is a very good group of kids from all the schools,” Star-News coach Gary Johnson (Muir) said. “We definitely wanted to get the ball inside to our low post.” Johnson was on the losing end of this game a few years ago so he had a simple game plan. “This was my first win,” Johnson said. “I needed some revenge so we were pleased. We just wanted to keep the pressure on, get the ball inside and keep rolling and have some fun.” The Star-News led most of the first half until the Tribune team, led by Jacqueline Salas (Amat) and Katie Moreno (Amat), tied the score at 27 when Sandy Perez (Azusa) hit a layup with 4:30 left in the half. “We had a couple of kids play really hard,” Locklear said. “Sandy Perez is a defensive specialist and she just leaves it all on the court and that’s a true blessing.”
The Star-News turned it over to their bigs and ran off the final 15 points of the half. Jenkins hit a 3-pointer. Nicol Biesek (South Pasadena) scored twice and Henderson put back an offensive rebound at the buzzer to cap the run.
