Published: April 22, 2008 10:13 am         

Maryland sweeps All-Star Classic

Girls win by 10; boys cruise to 44-point victory

FROSTBURG - The 28th annual All-Star Basketball Classic game between West Virginia and Maryland was held at Frostburg State University in Bobcat Arena on Sunday. In the girls' game, Maryland defeated West Virginia, 54-44, while the Maryland boys won against West Virginia, 113-69.

This event is held every year to honor the best high school senior basketball players in Western Maryland and Eastern West Virginia. It has been sponsored by the Frostburg Lions Club and McDonald's Restaurants since 1999.

In the first half of the girls' all-star game, West Virginia came out strong. Under three minutes into the game, West Virginia scored six consecutive points after Julie Streets from Union netted a free throw, giving West Virginia a four-point lead, 6-2. With 9:16 left in the half, Holly Williams from Mountain Ridge hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 11. Maryland went on to take its first lead at 13-11 after Northern's Kasie Fratz netted two at the 6:51 minute-mark.

Maryland expanded its lead to 10 points after scoring eight consecutive points, four of which came from Williams with 45 seconds remaining, to make it 29-19. West Virginia battled back to within five points with 12 seconds remaining, after Kacee Whetzel from Keyser hit a three-pointer and then 21 seconds later Keyser's Brittani Riley netted two points, making it 29-24. Becky Miller from Fort Hill made two points at the buzzer giving Maryland a 31-24 lead at the break.

In the second half, Maryland expanded its lead a second time to 10 points, 36-26, after Brittany Stein from Northern made a free throw at the 12:42 mark. The West Virginia girls again fought back to within five points, 39-34, after Whetzel netted a three-pointer with 9:44 remaining in the game.

Maryland scored six consecutive points to take the game's biggest lead at 47-34 when Williams made two with over 5:00 left in play. West Virginia was able to shrink Maryland's lead to nine points, 51-42, after Christina Koontz from Keyser netted a free throw with 2:24 remaining. Northern's Danielle Brenneman made a three-pointer at the 1:38 minute mark to give Maryland a 12-point lead at 54-42. With 50 seconds remaining, West Virginia's Ashley Propst netted the final two points.

The Most Valuable Players were Williams and Miller for Maryland and Tucker County's Stephanie Bennett. Williams had 11 points while Miller finished with 10. Bennett had 16 points, making 4-of-9 three pointers.

In the boys' game, the game was tied 5-5 at the 17:15 mark after West Virginia's Josh Mullenax from Harman netted a three-pointer. This would be the game's only tie. Maryland went on to score 10 consecutive points, six coming from Allegany's Travis Dordevic with 15:07 left in the half, to make it 15-5. West Virginia cut Maryland's lead to eight points after Keyser's Tyler Logsdon scored to make it 19-11.

Maryland scored the next 22 points over four minutes to take a commanding 30-point, 41-11 lead. Fort Hill's Cory McCarty scored eight of his 22 points for Maryland. With 4:18 remaining before halftime, West Virginia's Mullenax made two baskets and Zach Barie from Hampshire one to pull within 46-20.

Maryland expanded its lead again to 30 after Southern's Jeff Stem scored with 37 seconds remaining in the half to make it, 52-22. Barie nailed a three-pointer for West Virginia to end the half, giving Maryland a 52-25 lead.

Northern's Kory Gibson came out on fire netting two three-pointers a little over three minutes into the second half, giving Maryland another 30-point lead at 58-28. Less than 30 seconds later, another Gibson three-pointer, put Maryland ahead, 61-30.

Maryland took a 41-point lead with 8:11 left after Fort Hill's Jordan Brooks scored six consecutive points in less than 40 seconds. At the 3:03 minute-mark, Maryland broke the century mark at 101-57 on Dordevic's basket. Mullenax made a three-pointer and a free throw with 2:07 remaining for West Virginia.

McCarty scored five points to give Maryland its biggest lead at 47 points with 47 second remaining at 111-64. Union's Dave Coffern sank a basket to end the scoring with 20 seconds remaining.

The MVPs were Mullenax and Barie from West Virginia and Brooks, McCarty, Gibson and Fort Hill's Darren Graham.

Mullenax finished with 16 points and was 3-of-4 from behind the arc while Barie scored 14 points - 4-of-7 coming in the paint. Brooks and McCarty each scored 22 points for Maryland. Brooks was 11-of-14 from the paint and McCarty was 8-of-14 and 2-of-4 on three-pointers. Graham and Gibson both scored 15 points. Graham hit three three-pointers out of five attempts while Gibson also had three three-pointers.