All-Stars win in overtime thriller
By Pat Disabato pdisabato@southtownstar.com April 16, 2011 11:00PM
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Updated: June 16, 2011 12:16AM
The streak is over.
For the first time in six years, the High School All-Stars walked away from McLegends with a victory.
It wasn’t easy. In fact, overtime was required.
The additional time made the experience more gratifying and memorable for participants and spectators at McLegends X inside Thornton’s gymnasium Saturday.
Jay Parker’s layup with eight seconds remaining proved to be the difference as the High School All-Stars earned a thrilling 123-122 win over a relentless McLegends squad.
Even with Parker’s heroics, which included 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and extra session, the McLegends had a chance to win the game in the final moments.
Jason Avant, a six-year pro with the Philadelphia Eagles, was fouled with 1.7 seconds left and sent to the free-throw line.
With the crowd on its feet and All-Stars Parker, a senior at Thornton, and Deji Ibitayo in his ear, Avant, a wide receiver, misfired on both attempts.
Ibitayo, a senior at Rich Central, came down with the rebound as time expired, giving the All-Stars their first win since 2005.
“I was trying to do anything to distract him and make him think about something else,” said Parker, who actually tapped Avant on his left foot while the Carver High School grad settled in at the line. “This was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Given the chance to take the free throws again, Avant, who scored 14 points and had converted four straight charity tries prior to the misses, would have made an adjustment.
“You know, all day I’ve been strong with my shot,” Avant said. “So I tried to lighten it up and I was still too strong. I should have backed up from the line a little more.”
The overtime session was the third in McLegends history — the first coming in 2007, the second in 2009 — and the first time the All-Stars won.
“I’m speechless,” said Dimitrius Hardwick, a senior at Thornton who scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to win the Alan Macey MVP Award. “It was a great experience.”
The McLegends started strong, opening a 12-2 lead before the spectators, who filled just over half the gymnasium, settled into their seats.
The All-Stars, however, used a 27-7 run to end the first quarter and led 35-22 after one period.
The All-Stars remained aggressive in the opening moments of the second quarter. After Julian Lewis (17 points, 11 rebounds) converted a three-point play and Hardwick hit a short jumper, the All-Stars led 61-42 with 2:05 remaining before the half.
“They’re pros and they’ve been through this before,” Hardwick said. “We figured they’d rally back.”
Which is precisely what happened.
When 6-foot-6, 320-pound Winfield Garnett dropped in a layup, it capped an 11-1 run that gave the McLegends a 66-65 advantage.
The All-Stars regrouped and took a 90-81 lead into the final period.
“We were confident we would make a run at them,” said McLegend Kenyea Beach, who finished with a game-high 32 points. “We weren’t going to be substituting too much down the stretch.”
Beach and Avant took over in the final 12 minutes, pouring in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Beach’s 3-pointer from the corner with 6:34 left in regulation gave the McLegends a 103-101 lead.
From there, the lead see-sawed until it was tied 117-117 with 42.6 seconds left.
The All-Stars set up a last-second shot for the win, but Hardwick’s 3-pointer was off the mark, forcing OT.
“The kids won this game,” All-Star coach and Thornton legend Sam Cameli said. “It’s a thrill to win at Thornton. I went out on a limb and said we’d win the game and we won.”
The McLegends suffered a tough break when Rodney Harrison, the Marian Catholic graduate and likely future NFL Hall of Famer, injured his knee at 1:28 of the first quarter and never returned. He cheered his team from the bench, but not having the NBC football analyst on the floor certainly hurt the McLegends.
“The kids were more resilient than we were,” Beach said. “We needed to make big defensive stops and we didn’t.”
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