East’s Deshawn Rushmeyer throws one down in warmups. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Deshawn Rushmeyer’s hoops dream reached Cloud 9 staus on Saturday.
Three weeks after helping the East T-birds win the Class 4A state championship, the 6-foot-1 guard hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer at the annual Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches’ Senior All-Star Game at Grace Christian High School.
Rushmeyer capped a wild final few seconds of action as he grabbed an offensive rebound after a mad scramble among a handful of players and threw up a shot inside the key that banked in to give the Blue team a 103-101 victory over the Gold team in the 3A/4A boys game.
On the football field Rushmeyer catches passes as a wide receiver, but on the basketball court he apparently throws Hail Mary’s.
Dimond’s duo of McGuire Hamey and Luke Johnston combined to score eight straight points in the final moments for the Gold team, with Johnston’s step-back 3-pointer tying the game 101-101 with 43 seconds to play.
The Gold team had the ball for the final possession with 21.3 seconds left but had trouble breaking the defensive pressure, which led to a turnover and paved the way for Rushmeyer’s buzzer beater.
Dimond’s Luke Johnston. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Rushmeyer finished with 13 points – none bigger than the heave you wouldn’t believe, hanging a loss on his T-birds’ coach Chuck Martin, who guided the Gold team.
Grace Christian’s Jason Boerger of the 3A state champion Grizzlies coached the victorious Blue team.
You knew we were in for a good game when the first bucket two seconds after tipoff was a dunk, courtesy of Anders Larsen of Chugiak. Later in the first half Rushmeyer threw down a one-handed slam on the break.
Early on, the Gold team jumped out to a 15-8 lead behind back-to-back 3-pointers from Johnston, who poured in a game-high 26 points.
Nome’s Jade Greene hit a 3 to make it 21-15 as 15 of the Gold’s first 21 points came from behind the arc. The lead swelled to 24-17 when Valdez’s Payton Gage scored in transition that was set up by a blocked shot by West’s Julius Adlawan, a 6-foot-6 forward who swatted four shots in the first half alone.
Ketchikan’s JJ Parker. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Ketchikan’s JJ Parker helped bring back the Blue team, tying the game on a shake-and-bake jumper and then giving his team a 30-27 lead with a 3-point bomb on an assist from two-time Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year Stewart Erhart of West Valley.
Erhart finished with nine points and a half dozen assists as he looked to share the ball when most players were in shoot-first mode. Later in the half he had the court sense to get the ball to Wasilla’s Arthur Adams for a heat check.
Anders made two free throws and then converted an offensive rebound to give the Blue team a 42-34 lead. But the Gold team came roaring back, with consecutive 3s by Gage and East’s Axel Carpio tying the game at 44.
That’s when Adams got hot and netted eight straight points on a layup and back-to-back 3s, the first coming from NBA range and the second coming on an assist from Erhart. That late run helped the Blue team take a 56-51 lead into halftime.
West Valley’s Stewart Erhart. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
There was a dunk contest during the break and Hamey outdueled Ninilchik skywalker Jaylin Scott in the final after the five-man field was narrowed down. The 6-foot-7 Hamey won it after he jumped over a child for a two-handed sledgehammer slam. The 6-foot-5 Scott threw down a clean 360 after a number of misses on an alley-oop attempt.
The all-star game was more than just dunks, 3s and buzzer beaters.
It also provided scintillating sidebars like teammates Erhart and Malachi Bradley of West Valley and Hamey and Xzavier Baker of Dimond guarding each other and pitted players against their coaches like Rushmeyer facing Martin and Sloan Lentfer facing Boerger.
Dimond’s Xzavier Baker. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Imagine being Martin, who lost the game but saw his player win it.
Rushmeyer’s fingerprints were all over this beauty.
In the second half, he scored on a pretty spin move to push the Blue team’s lead to 67-57. Later his drive made it 78-65, forcing Martin to call a timeout at the 11:35 mark.
The Gold team fought back, slicing a 13-point deficit down to 78-77 on Johnston’s deep 3-pointer. Houston’s Cole Taylor tied the game at 80 with 9:12 to play.
Baker’s breakaway dunk gave the Blue team an 87-83 cushion. Erhart’s jumper caused the lead to swell to 98-91.
Juneau’s OJ Dybdahl hit a 3-pointer to push the Blue team over the century mark, making it 101-93.
That’s when the Dimond duo of Hamey and Johnston went to work and forged a tie inside the final minute before Rushmeyer’s heroics at the buzzer.
AABC Senior All-Star Game
Boys 3A/4A
Blue 56 47 – 103
Gold 51 50 – 101
BLUE – Sean Malinis 13, Deshawn Rushmeyer 13, JJ Parker 11, Stewart Erhart 9, Devin Sheldon 2, Hayden Howard 2, Bryce Tucker 6, Tyler Binder 10, Arthur Adams 11, Xzavier Baker 5, Anders Larsen 10, OJ Dybdahl 13.
GOLD – Axel Carpio 3, Payton Gage 9, Cole Taylor 3, Jakob Kvasnikoff 3, Victor Meza 9, Parker Kroon 10, Jade Greene 7, Luke Johnston 26, Malachi Bradley 6, Sloan Lentfer 8, McGuire Hamey 9, Julius Adlawan 6.
ACS’ Chloe Auble. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
In the AABC Senior All-Star Game for 3A/4A girls, ACS superstar Sayvia Sellers pumped in 36 points to lead the Gold team to a 90-83 victory over the Blue team at Grace.
The 5-foot-7 University of Washington signee sank six 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the fourth quarter.
The Blue team featured her ACS teammate Chloe Auble, who bagged 18 of her 36 points in the fourth quarter to make things interesting at the end.
But Sellers, who never lost a high school game in Alaska, would never allow her legendary career to end in defeat.
The two-time Gatorade Alaska Player of the Year finished strong, showing why she ended her career as Alaska’s all-time girls prep scoring champion with 2,651 career points. Of course, none of the points she scored Saturday counted toward that total, but her performance was still indicative of her legacy.
All she does is win.
ACS’ Sayvia Sellers cuts it up with South’s Olivia Heartwell. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
Even in an exhibition, Sellers plays hard. But on Saturday she smiled more than normal during the action as she soaked up every moment of her final appearance as a high school player.
There was a nice moment between Sellers and longtime friend Olivia Heartwell of South. In the regular season, ACS and Sellers beat the Wolverines 79-29 and you can bet Heartwell wasn’t feeling too friendly afterwards.
But on this day, they were all smiles as they enjoyed being on the same team for the first time since last summer’s travel team.
AABC Senior All-Star Game
Girls 3A/4A
Blue 12 17 17 37 – 83
Gold 21 23 21 25 – 90
BLUE – Maggie Aaverl 5, Ashlyn Parduhn 16, Chloe Auble 36, Josie Sheridan 5, Malerie Nunn 0, TT Tagovailoa 14, Lainey Suaava 7.
GOLD – Amy Pilon 11, Jordan Zackery 10, Octavia Knox 7, Olivia Heartwell 12, Emma Hopkins 1, Sayvia Sellers 36, Ashley Laudert 12.
Lathrop’s Amy Pilon. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
In the AABC Senior All-Star Game for 1A/2A girls, Tikigaq’s Jadyn Lane scored 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting and the Blue team used a fourth-quarter run to pull out a 42-37 victory over the Gold team at Grace.
Cook Inlet Academy’s Tatum Rozak had five points, 11 rebounds and four assists top help power the winners.
Ella Phillips of Birchwood Christian and Kayleigh Sagoonick each added seven points for the Blue team.
The Gold team’s Alana Barron bagged a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Haines’ Grace Long Godinez chipped in eight points and 11 rebounds as the Gold team won the battle of the boards 55-38 but were doomed by poor shooting.
AABC Senior All-Star Game
Girls 1A/2A
Gold 13 8 10 6 – 37
Blue 11 12 8 11 – 42
GOLD – Grace Long Godinez 8, Ayla Walker 2, Alana Barron 15, Arriana Woods 0, Alissa Durgan 0, Allah Wardell 4, Cheyenne Kookesh 6, Ava Jones 2.
BLUE – Karina Villamor 5, Emily Ross 2, Ella Phillips 7, Jadyn Lane 13, Tatum Rozak 5, Kayleigh Sagoonick 7, Alianna Voran 3.
Valdez’s Payton Gage. Photo by Bryan Boyett/Alaska Sports Report
In the AABC Senior All-Star Game for 1A/2A boys, Eric Gillham of Haines flirted with a triple-double and helped the Blue team run away with a 96-73 victory over the Gold team at Grace.
Gillham furnished 10 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. He added a pair of blocks to complete his masterpiece.
Ninilchik’s Jaylin Scott pumped in 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Tikigaq’s Benjamin Lane scored 17 points and Cook Inlet Academy’s Abraham Henderson chipped in 14 points and 14 rebounds.
The Blue team had 20 assists on 39 field goals. Both teams hit 11 3-pointers, with Kake’s Ethan Kadake and Tanalian’s Daniel Wardell each knocking down three.
The Gold team got a dozen points each from Aniak’s Deven Dallmann, Cordova’s Jaykob Thorne and Wardell. Thorne just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.
AABC Senior All-Star Game
Boys 1A/2A
Blue 22 27 23 24 – 96
Gold 21 15 13 24 – 73
BLUE – Ethan Kadake 12, Colvin Moore 8, Jaylin Scott 23, Eric Gillham 10, Benjamin Lane 17, Abraham Henderson 14, Ryan Steeves 10, Josh Renshaw 2.
GOLD – Austin Fox 4, Cassius Sundown 10, Carter Kokeok 8, Deven Dallmann 12, Jaykob Thorne 12, Damien Fournier 0, Emett Fairbanks 0, Brandon Wood 4, Daniel Wardell 12, Joelian Lane 9.