Carlinville Boys Basketball: Rotary All-Star Game

By Tim Tarter

It may not have been the prettiest of All-Star games, but it was certainly one of the most impressive offensive performances in the eight-year history of the Mid-Illinois All-Star Basketball Classic March 28 as the West All-Stars stormed past the East 121-86. Girard’s Dylan Burton scored 21 points and Delarro Smith of East Alton-Wood River added 20 points to lead seven players in double figures for the West team.

The West left no doubt in this one as they led from start to finish in winning for the sixth time in eight years. Carlinville’s Eric Gross and Burton scored six points each as the West jumped out to a 23-14 lead after a quarter.

Smith and Auburn’s Brett Graven helped fuel a second-quarter offensive explosion as they both hit a pair of 3-pointers as the West took a 56-40 halftime lead. Graven, the son of the West coach Doug Graven, showed great shooting range as he had four treys in the game and finished with 14 points.

Burton, who wowed the crowd with his performance in the Enquirer~Democrat Slam Dunk Contest at halftime, had one more left in his arsenal in the second half as he took an alley-oop pass from Southwestern’s Ryan Gray on the fast break and jammed it home. “We talked about it before the game as a joke, but we just made eye contact and he threw up there,” Burton said of the pass on the dunk.

Burton finished with a team-high 21 points and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. “It was a lot of fun playing with the best around,” Burton said. “It was a fun thing to do. I had a great time tonight.”

As for winning the slam dunk contest while scoring 39 of a possible 40 points, Burton was pretty humble when asked if he planned anything special. “Nah, every one of them (contests) I just go in and dunk something and see what I get out of it.”

The West continued their domination in the second half outscoring the East 33-19 in the third quarter to take an 89-59 lead. Burton and Auburn’s Ryan Gardner had six points apiece with three buckets, while Graven added a pair of treys.

Staunton’s Kevin Fuller, a 6-foot-5 center, had a game-high 28 points for the East squad including a pair of three-pointers in the final quarter when he scored 10 points. Hillsboro’s Colby Cooper was the only other East player in double figures with 12 points.

The West looked like they might break the All-Star game scoring record of 122 points set by the West squad in 2004, but they fell just short. They were also close on the margin of victory of 39 points set by the East in 2007.

Gross and Carlinville teammate Zac Dixon both had solid games for the West. Gross finished with 15 points including a fourth quarter trey. He also had an assist on a pass to Dixon, who scored 4 points.

“Yeah, I thought I’d help him out,” Gross said (laughing).

It was that kind of night for the West All-Stars who enjoyed a dominating performance.

“It was really fun. It was a great experience,” Dixon said. “It was fun to be at home and play with a bunch of guys who love basketball and dominate.”

“Just to get the opportunity to play with the best guys in the area was really fun,” Gross said. “We really got along well. It’s just a good group of guys, so it was easy to play basketball with them.”

As for the tempo of the game, Gross said that it began to catch up with them in the second half.

“That’s true, we’ve been out of basketball for a while, so in the third quarter and fourth quarter, we were kinda hurtin”, he said.

Dixon, who plans to continue his education and play football at McKendree University in Lebanon, was matter of fact about his plans after high school. “Go to college and get an education and maybe play some football on the side. Go out and be a productive citizen and try to make some money.”

Gardner and Bunker Hill’s Mike Mook rounded out the players for the West in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The NewWave Communications three-point shootout was won in a shoot off by Tyler Carter of Greenville over Mook. Both players made nine-of-15 shots in the first round. Mook shot first in the second round and finished with three-of-10 from the corners. Carter knocked down six shots to take home first place. 20 of the 24 players in the All-Star game took part in the three-point competition.

Nokomis coach Steve Kimbro, who coached the East Squad in the event, was named the Mid-Illinois Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year. Kimbro’s Redskins finished 27-7 this season while advancing to the Class 1A Sectional title game. Kimbro also passed 600 career wins this season and has a career record of 609-219 in 29 seasons, all at Nokomis.

At Carlinville

East – Jordan Pesko 3-1-7; Kevin Goebel 2-0-5;

Dylan Martin 2-2-6; Shane Convery 1-1-3;

Dylan Treece 2-1-6; Tyler Carter 2-0-4; Colby

Cooper 5-0-12; Kevin Fuller 12-2-28; Matthew

Weitekamp 0-1-1; Landon Weitekamp 3-0-6;

Todd Eaton 2-1-5; Derek Davidson 1-1-3.

3-point field goals – Cooper (2), Fuller (2),

Goebel (1), Treece (1).

2-point goals: 29; Free Throws 10-16; Fouls - 7

West – Ryan Gray 0-2-2; Delarro Smith 9-0-20;

Zac Dixon 2-0-4; Eric Gross 7-0-15; Christian

Burnett 3-0-6; Brett Graven 5-0-14; Devon

Murphy 5-0-12; Ethan Guss 0-1-1; Dylan Burton

10-0-21; Mike Mook 5-0-12; Ryan Gardner 7-0-14.

3-point field goals – Graven (4), Smith (2),

Murphy (2), Mook (2), Gross (1), Burton (1)

2-point goals: 41; Free Throws 3-12; Fouls – 10

Officials:  Rick Tolle, Jay Smith, Laimutis Nargelenas.