The North Carolina East-West All-Star Basketball Game will have a distinct Nash County flavor this season.
The East squad will be led by head coach Henry Drake of Northern Nash High School, and two players were nominated and then selected to appear in the game: Izeal Mallory and Randall King.
The men’s game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Monday, July 15 at the Novant Health Field House located inside the Greensboro Coliseum. The women’s game precedes the men’s game at 6:30 p.m.
Drake will be assisted by Thurman Jordan of Rolesville.
In addition to Mallory and King, the East squad is made up of Jayde Braswell (Hillside), Syncere Burnette (Wakefield), Ari Fulton (Westover), Tequan Holley (Bertie), Trey Manhertz (Green Level), Paul McNeil Jr. (Richmond Senior), Zack Noel (White Oak) and Isaiah Upchurch Southern Lee).
The West squad, directed by Darren Corbett (Grimsley) and Billy Phillips (T.C. Roberson), features Jalen Chambers (Mooresville), Carson Daniel and Chase Daniel (Central Cabarrus), Jamias Ferere (Southern Guilford), Richard Goods (Grimsley), Maurio Hanson Jr. (Chambers). Jucqarie Love (Southern Guilford), Santana Lynch (Lake Norman), Jackson Sellars (Page) and Jerquarius Stanback (Asheboro).
The East-West All-Star Games were founded in 1949 by Coach Bob Jamieson of Grimsley High School and Smith Barrier, the Sports Editor of the Greensboro Daily News, to help finance the North Carolina Coaches Association Coaching Clinic. The games feature players who have just graduated from high school — the best from the Eastern half of North Carolina against the best from the West.
Traditionally, the games are held in mid-July in conjunction with the NCCA Coaching Clinic. The games are played on consecutive nights beginning with the two basketball games on Monday. Soccer follows on Tuesday. Beginning in 2023, the All-Star Football contest moved to December a week after the NCHSAA Playoffs.
Rosters are determined by the coaches after a nomination process. A prospective player has to be nominated by his coach in order to be considered for the team.
“We got some phone calls, mainly from parents, asking why we didn’t choose certain players,” Drake said. “We tell them to address that with the coaches association, who will tell them that the player wasn’t nominated by his head coach, so they need to take (their concern) to that coach.”
Drake continued: “Coaches from the East and West can nominate any seniors they feel like can play. When we choose the team, we can’t go by ‘why didn’t we choose this player or that one.’ It first comes from what the coaches nominate and then we go from there.”
Drake and Jordan have played each other in nonconference games over the past few years, so both had an idea of what type of player they were looking for.
“I nominated my two (Mallory and King) because I felt they deserved to represent the East,” Drake said. “They have done a good job representing Northern Nash High School as well as our community.”
King averaged nearly 17 points (387 overall) and five rebounds while dishing out 3.3 assists and grabbing 2.4 steals per game this past season for the Knights.
Mallory averaged 17.2 points (481 overall, leading the team) and 5.4 rebounds while adding 2.5 assists and 2.4 steals per outing. He also shot nearly 40 percent (67 of 170) from three-point range. He was selected as the Player of the Year in the Big East 2A/3A Conference this past season.
Drakes feels both players bring a lot to the East squad.
“Izeal can knock the 3-ball down consistently, and what people don’t know is how explosive he is off the dribble,” Drake said. “He’s really consistent in his whereabouts of knowing where to be at all times on the court.
“Randall does it all and is a well-rounded player,” Drake continued. “He likes to attack and slash to the basket and is one of those guys who doesn’t mind going down there (in the paint) to take charges and play people bigger than him. He is a football player (King has signed to play for Campbell University), is mentally tough and his knowledge of the game is at just as high a level as Izeal.”
Teams will practice several times over the weekend and attend a banquet prior to Monday’s game.
Drake, who was nominated and then selected as the head coach by the coaches association, said “It’s a tremendous honor and I am humbled by the nomination and to be selected as head coach. I want Izeal and Randall to understand that we are part of the history of this event, to just be humble and understand that anybody east of Burlington and Raleigh could have been on this team.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0