BATON ROUGE — The East All-Stars withstood a furious last-minute comeback by the West to win the Louisiana High School Coaches Association/Coca-Cola boys all-star basketball game, 88-87, Thursday night at the F. G. Clark Activity Center.
Marcus Thornton of Tara, who paced the East in the first half with 13 points, finished with 15 and was named the Nokia Sugar Bowl Most Outstanding Player.
The East and West were tied at 41 at intermission. The East built an 11-point lead three-times in the second half before the West cut the margin to 87-84 with 10 seconds to play. The East’s Jacobe Shannon of Glen Oaks missed two free throws and the West tried to get the ball up court but turned the ball over. The East’s Tony Beaulieu of Glen Oaks was fouled and made one free throw to make it 88-84 with three seconds left. The West’s D’Ante Harris of Airline pulled up and nailed a three at the buzzer for the final margin.
Thornton’s 15-points was the best for the East, while Ryan Francis of Glen Oaks added 13 points. Harris led the West with 13 points, with Gil Verner of Assumption and Kenny Watkins of Jennings scoring 11 each. Mario Stafford of Plaquemine added 10 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds.
The all-star week of games concludes Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Southern University’s Mumford Stadium for the 68th annual all-star football game.
BOX SCORE
WEST BOYS (87)
Hal Spencer 1-5 1-1 2-2 5; Michael McConathy 1-2 1-2 0-0 3; Gil Verner 5-8 1-3 0-0 11; Demondray Robinson 2-5 0-2 2-2 6; Troy Douglas 1-4 1-4 3-4 6; Kenny Watkins 3-6 2-5 3-4 11; Jared Stevenson 0-1 0-1 4-4 4; Kyle Victoria 2-5 0-0 2-4 6; D’Ante Harris 4-8 2-4 3-4 13; Mario Stafford 5-7 0-1 0-0 10; Scotty Jackson 2-4 0-1 0-0 4; Jerry Prudhomme 0-0 0-0 4-5 4; Warrell Span 2-5 0-2 0-0 4; Landrell Brewer 0-1 0-0 0-3 0. Totals: 28-61 8-26 23-32 87.
EAST BOYS (88)
Torry Beaulieu 1-3 0-0 6-10 8; Ryan Francis 5-14 2-5 1-4 13; Kenon Lamb 1-4 0-3 3-4 5; Jacobe Shannon 0-6 0-3 6-8 6; Trey Montgomery 3-3 0-0 0-0 6; Drew Meyerchick 1-4 0-2 0-2 2; Daniel Davis 1-3 0-0 0-0 2; Marcus Thornton 5-10 3-5 2-2 15; Leroy Butler 0-0 0-0 0-0 0; Rodney Brumfield 3-4 0-0 1-3 7; Kevin Goffney 3-7 1-1 1-2 8; Donnie McDowell 1-3 1-2 0-0 3; Jordan Pratt 1-1 0-0 0-0 2; Kalen Porterie 2-4 0-0 1-2 5; Nick Darenburg 3-4 0-0 0-0 6. Totals: 30-70 7-21 21-37 88.
Halftime score: East 41, West 41. Field Goal Percentage: West 45.9; East 42.9. Three-point percentage West 30.8; East 33.3; Free throw percentage West 71.9; East 56.8. Rebounds: West 46 (Stafford 12); East 40 (Porterie 5); Assists: West 11 (Robinson 3); East 15 (Beaulieu 5); Steals: West 13 (Harris 4); East 17 (Beaulieu 3). A — 3,114.