West stars earn sweep of East

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BANGOR – For some, it was a rematch. For others, it was a chance to finally play with, rather than against, some of the best players in their regions. Some just looked at it as a chance to play one more postseason game after their own teams’ seasons ended much too soon for their liking.

For all the players assembled at Husson College’s Newman Gym, Saturday’s Maine McDonalds East-West Senior All-Star Games were a satisfying way to end their high school basketball careers.

Saturday’s boys games were a clean sweep for the West as the Western Classes C-D squad started things off with a hard-fought 85-80 win and the A-B team followed with an 84-79 victory. It was the second straight win in the series for the West A-B team and the third in the last four years for the West C-D team.

Overall, the West leads the C-D series 14-8 and the A-B series 15-7.

Classes C-D – The most surreal matchup of the day, at least individually, may have come in the C-D game as state Class C championship game opponents Joe Footer of Calais and Tyrell Waldon of Jay hooked up again.

“On the court, it was funny because I was saying ‘Oh, you want some more?’ because we guarded each other in the state final, so it was good to be able to be funny about it,” said Footer.

Calais’ 6-foot-5 center had four points, three rebounds and six assists Saturday. Waldon faired slightly better with nine points, six boards, an assist and a steal.

“I talked to him last night at the banquet and we were joking around,” Waldon said. “He was like ‘How was your season?’ I was like ‘Not bad. How was yours?’ He said, ‘We won Easterns.’ I was like ‘Yeah? We won a couple titles.’ He was pretty cool about it, though.”

The last time they met, the game ended in bizarre fashion as Jay scored the tying and winning points on two technical foul shots with 1.4 seconds to play.

Footer said the weekend helped him put a better frame on things.

“It was a tough way to go out, but something like this helps you so you don’t remember that tough ending as your last game. You go out on a little better note,” he said.

Valley of Bingham 6-foot-9 center Brian Andre led the West and matched his jersey number with a game-high 23 points. He also grabbed eight rebounds.

“We wanted to try and keep Andre off the boards so we could kick it and run a lot. We did that for awhile, but he still did a great job inside,” said Hodgdon’s Tyler Putnam, who contributed 12 points, six boards and two blocked shots.

Putnam has been eager for this game ever since his Hawks’ only loss of the season bounced them out in the regional quarterfinals.

“I was looking forward to this because our season ended kind of early,” Putnam said. “I had a great time. Just to see everybody again was great. I’ve got a lot of AAU teammates here that I don’t get to see because I live so far up north.”

East Grand of Danforth guard James Godley led the East with 13 points while fellow Class D player Tyler Muzzy of Greenville had a 10-point, nine-rebound effort. Nick Reynolds from Washington Academy in East Machias had 10 points and seven boards.

The West outshot the East 45.5 percent to 37.8 from the field overall to overcome the East’s 45.8 (11-for-24) 3-point shooting effort.

Luke Hartwell of Valley had 13 points. Georges Valley of Thomaston 2,000-point scorer Travis Magnusson had 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.

“It’s great to play with some of the guys I’ve always played against in the regular season,” Magnusson said. “I got a chance to play with the guys from Valley and that was a big thrill.”

The Classes A-B game featured 10 lead changes and the West didn’t take the lead for good until two minutes into the final quarter.

Mr. Maine Basketball, Deering of Portland big man Nik Caner-Medley, led the West with 16 points while Mr. Basketball finalist Aaron Spaulding of Cape Elizabeth had 13 points and eight boards.

Though lesser-known, Falmouth guard Garrett Weliever had a solid game as well. Both he and Deering guard Walter Phillips scored 14.

East leaders were Presque Isle’s Nick Casavant and Skowhegan’s B.J. Dunlap (16 points each), Brunswick’s Dan Hammond (15 points, seven rebounds) and Hampden Academy’s Justin DiFrederico (11).

“I remember seeing these when I was in middle school and I’ve always dreamed of coming here,” DiFrederico said. “Just hanging out with these guys was great.”

Like DiFrederico, Old Town standout Shawn Kenniston’s season ended in the first round of divisional prelims. Fortunately for him, McDonald’s games have become something of a tradition in his family.

“I watched my sister [Jody] play in this and it looked like a lot of fun,” said the Old Town guard. “We stayed for the boys game and that looked like even more fun, so it’s great to be able to be here.”

Bucksport guard Jason Harvey had eight points and eight rebounds.

WEST A-B BOYS 84, EAST 79

East All-Stars West All-Stars

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Teague 1 6 0 0 2 Spaulding 5 13

Harvey 3 10 1 2 8 Caner-Medley 6 13 3 6 16

DiFrederico 4 11 2 2 11 Norton 4 7 8

Kenniston 1 10 0 0 3 Maynard 1 3 3

Casavant 7 12 0 0 16 Jenkins 3 5 6

St. Clair 1 6 0 0 2 Pulkkinen 1 2

Estes 2 4 0 0 6 Wadsworth 3 7

Dunlap 5 8 2 2 16 Ballantyne 0 1

Hammond 7 11 1 4 15 Weliever 6 14

Griffeth 0 6 0 0 0 Phillips 6 12 0 0 14

Totals 31 84 6 10 79 Totals 35 72 16 84

East 15 37 61 79

West 16 38 60 84

3-pt. goals: East (11-32): Dunlap 4-4, Estes 2-3, Casavant 2-6, DiFrederico 1-3, Kenniston 1-4, Harvey 1-6, Teague 0-1, St. Clair 0-1, Hammond 0-2, Griffeth 0-2; West (5-17): Phillips 2-6, Wadsworth 1-1, Spaulding 1-2, Caner-Medley 1-2, Ballantyne 0-6

WEST C-D BOYS 85, EAST 80

East All-Stars West All-Stars

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Putnam 5 8 0 0 12 Rich 1 6 2

Godley 5 8 0 0 13 Fairchild 3 6

Pulkkinen 2 6 1 2 6 Hanson 4 7 9

Bradstreet 3 9 0 2 6 Waldon 4 6 9

Mortland 2 11 0 0 5 Bossie 1 2 4

Dawson 2 7 0 2 6 Magnusson 3 12 4 4 10

McCleary 2 5 4 4 8 Hardwick 3 9

Footer 2 6 0 0 4 J.Hartwell 0 0

Muzzy 4 9 0 0 10 L.Hartwell 6 14 1 1 13

Reynolds 4 13 2 2 10 Andre 11 17 23

Totals 31 82 7 12 80 Totals 36 79 11 85

East 25 43 61 85

West 19 38 58 80

3-pt. goals: East (11-24): Godley 3-4, Muzzy 2-3, Putnam 2-3, Dawson 2-5, Mortland 1-2, Pulkkinen 1-4, Footer 0-1, Reynolds 0-2; West (4-12): Hanson 1-1, Waldon 1-1, Hardwick 1-1, Bossie 1-2, Fairchild 0-1, L. Hartwell 0-1, Magnusson 0-1, Rich 0-4