Gold sweeps to basketball victories
NEWARK – Saturday afternoon’s Blue-Gold All-Star basketball games served as a farewell party for the state’s best senior players and they wanted to make the most of it.
The Gold boys and girls basketball teams that represented mostly south of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal took better advantage of the opportunity, sweeping the Blue squads at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The Gold girls took the opener by holding off a spirited Blue comeback, winning by a count of 64-60. The Gold team jumped out to a 37-27 lead after one half of play behind eight points from Sussex Central guard Emily Truitt.
“It’s been amazing, I’ve enjoyed myself this whole week,” said Truitt, who finished with 10 points on the afternoon. “We took this game very seriously and wanted to win.”
Not to be outdone, the Blue team staged a furious rally, led by Concord’s Wynter McLaughlin, to erase the deficit. After a missed shot by the Gold, McLaughlin stormed to the rim for a layup with 2:50 to go to in the second half to push the Blue team ahead 60-58.
Truitt responded late in the second half with a pair of free throws for the lead and Hodgson’s Quiara Mayes provided some insurance with a layup off of a loose ball with a minute to go.
Truitt said it didn’t take long for her Gold teammates to learn each other’s games before they were ready to play.
“After our first practice on Monday, we knew that we could work well together,” she said.
Truitt and Mayes led the Gold with 10 points each, and Appoquinimink guard Shirle’ Brown and Dover guard Kyra Moore added nine and eight points respectively.
McLaughlin led the Blue team — and all scorers — with 14 points and Chrishyanah Alston of Sanford added 11 points.
In between the boys and girls games, a team consisting of sponsors of the event and New York City streetballers took the floor for an entertaining game that the NYC squad eventually won 51-45. The standout performer on both sides was Delcastle boys head coach Kenny Avent, leading the sponsor team with 13 points.
In the boys game, the Gold team got 14 of its 15 players on the scoreboard in the first half en route to a 12-point halftime lead.
Dover guard Jordan Allen led the Gold in the first half with 10 points and won the halftime dunk contest, completing a thunderous dunk after a pass from Senators teammate Michael Douglas off the side of the backboard.
“We’ve just been working on that dunk after practice,” Allen said. “Just something we’ve been wanting to do.”
Allen resumed his sharpshooting duties in the second half, knocking down three long-distance 3-pointers as the Gold team withstood an early second half charge from Blue to run away with a 103-83 win. But for Allen, the game took a backseat to a special day for him while bonding with old foes.
“To play the game I love on my birthday, it’s great,” Allen said of Saturday. “It’s not really about winning and losing — it’s about giving the crowd a show. They got to see the best talent in Delaware today.”
Mikey Dixon led the Blue squad with 16 points and Hodgson’s Jamal Hunt added 11.
Allen led all scorers with 23 points and was joined in double figures by Milford’s Henry Nesmith's 13 points and Dom Griffith of Lake Forest 11-point effort.