Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic Entertains Hoops Fans

The Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic, whose primary goal was to "give Indiana a more complete view of Indiana's high school graduating seniors to the general public," honored all four classes on Saturday at the New Castle Fieldhouse.

And it was done to a great deal of success.

The Central-Metro and State girls and boys played to an enthusiastic crowd and what transpired in the inaugural event promises to set the stage for future events in New Castle.

Next year’s event already has a date, so mark down June 19, 2010 on your calendar. Also on the 2010 agenda, members of the Indianapolis Washington 1969 state championship team and players from Warsaw, the first girls state championship team in the 1975-76 will be invited.

The 2009 Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic showcased 98 players, who will be attending schools spanning from Indiana, Purdue and Butler to Hanover, DePauw, Franklin and St. Mary of the Woods in Indiana, as well as players who will be attending schools from New York to Florida.

The teams split the four games, with the Metro-Central beating the State in 3A-4A girls and boys games.

The Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic board wanted to raise funds for as many people as possible and accomplished that with the profits going to The United Fund of Henry County and its16 agencies.

"Wow! The kids had fun . . . and The United Fund was helped out . . . and we had a good crowd for the first time of ever doing this sort of thing,’’ said Steven Stremming, of Excelhsports.com and Excelhsports publications, one of the event’s directors.

“Having several living members of the 1955 and 1956 Crispus Attucks and the 1954 Milan teams present was neat, and fans had to love it -- seeing the two most important stories in Indiana History's side by side in the Fieldhouse when they will forever live next door in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.”

Some of the legends in attendance included Milan’s Roland Cutter and Ray Craft, the former IHSAA associate commissioner who was the team's leading scorer with 14 points that year, and Attucks’ Bill Hampton, Willie Merriweather, James Gipson and Samuel Milton.

The winners of the event’s 3-point shoot-out were Aubrey Minix (Oregon-Davis), who happens to also be the career 3-point leader in the history of Indiana, and Mr. Basketball Jordan Hulls of Bloomington South.

“We (our team) wanted these games to be fun for the kids, we accomplished it! We wanted the games to be exciting and with plenty of scoring and action, we accomplished that!’’ said former New Castle High School Mr. Basketball Kent Benson, chairman of the event.

“The character and talent of the players along with the excitement and competitiveness they displayed, proved to us and the fans, that we were correct about the general public in Indiana wanting to see a more complete view of our graduated seniors. The Lord gave us an opportunity to showcase these kids the way the coaches and citizens of Indiana appreciate."

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes Mental Attitude awards were presented in each of the four classes by Benson.

Here’s a breakdown by class games:

Boys 3A-4A: Evansville Harrison’s Kendal Brown and Reggie Hearn (Fort Wayne Snider) had 27 points. Hearn and Hulls, who had seven points, eight rebounds and seven assists, were the Mental Award winners. Also, for Metro-Central, Anderson Highland’s Jay Mohr led the way with 23 points, followed by Arlington’s Philip Freeman (19) and North Central’s Damon Ellison (18).

Girls 3A-4A: Borden’s Andrea Rademacher was tops with 25 points, while Cathedral’s Adrienne Sahm tallied 24 points, followed by Ben Davis’ Emily Huber’s 17. But MVP honors went to Talaya Earls (Indianapolis Northwest), who had 10 points and 21 rebounds. Lauren Meadows (Brebeuf Jesuit) and Kelsey Reynolds (Penn) were the Mental Award winners.

Boys Class A-2A: Heritage Christian’s Tommy Eggleston, who finished with 14 points, joined Northeast Dubois’ Josh Gordon (18 points) as the Mental Award recipients. The top scorer was MVP Tommy Strine (Fort Wayne Lakewood Park Christian), who led the way with 20 points.

Girls Class A-2A: Heritage Christian’s Claire Freeman and Triton Central’s Kelsey Larkey each netted 17 points for the Metro-Central Class team. Erica Redwiek (Winamac) and Freeman were the Mental Award winners.

Mark Morrow is an online columnist for VYPE High School Sports Magazine, Central Indiana. He can be reached at mediamarko@sbcglobal.net or by leaving a comment.