SoCalHoops All-Star News

LA Times Battle Of The Valley
All-Star Game Saturday Night--(April 29, 1999)

What: Battle of the Valley Senior All-Star Basketball Games
When: Saturday, May 1, 1999
Time: Girls' 5:30 p.m.; Boys 7:30 p.m.
Where: Cal State Northridge
$8 for stadium seats, $7 for bleachers, $4 for children

The Warehouse Shoe Sale Scholastic Hoops Jam at LA Southwest College isn't the only All-Star type game taking place in the Los Angeles area on Saturday.  For those who live in or near the Ventura/San Fernando Valley region, you might also want to check out the "LA Times Battle of the Valley All-Star Game" which will feature many of the top players in the Valley.  Unfortunately, the game won't feature the top player from the region, Gilbert Arenas, because he's already played in two post-senior-season all-star games (the Dada Classic and the Double Pump California Classic) and the NCAA says that a graduating senior can only partake in two such events and still be eligible to play as a freshman in college (so why, you ask did Casey Jacobsen also play in a third game, the Nike Hoop Summit?  That's an international competition, and the "two all-star game" rule apparently only applies to games against domestic competition).

In any event, there will still be some pretty good competition, and the games will feature several players who have signed with D-I programs, including Kent Dennis (6'-3" Sr. SG) from Cleveland who has signed with West Virginia, and George Wrighster (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) who has signed with Oregon and who will play football and basketball.  The games will also feature some other top prospects, including Devin Montgomery (5'-11" Sr. PG) from Alemany (who played with Rockfish last year), Nana Gbewonyo (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF), Jeremiah Turner (6'-7" Sr. SF/PF) who has signed with Cal Poly Pomona, J.J. Todd (6'-10" Sr. C) who has signed with UCSB, and several other top players who still remain unsigned.

Since this game is sponsored by the LA Times, they had a nice article on it today, which mostly hyped the matchups between the Alemany guys who formerly played against some of the City Section players when they were at San Fernando (I can hear everyone groaning in agony saying to themselves, "oh, not that story angle again, please anything but that. . . .). In any event, if you're going to be in the Valley Saturday night, this one is worth catching. Here's what the Times had to say:

It had to end this way.  Bryson Atkins and Devin Montgomery, the impressive backcourt duo at Alemany High that left San Fernando in a highly publicized transfer before the school year, get to run one last time against their old rivals from the City Section. Atkins and Montgomery will play for the Southern Section team in the third annual Battle of the Valley All-Star Basketball Game on Saturday night at Cal State Northridge.  Atkins, who was at San Fernando for three years, and Montgomery, who was there for one year, are familiar with a City roster that includes Kent Dennis of Cleveland, Nana Gbewonyo of Kennedy and the Sylmar trio of George Wrighster, T.K. Reed and Jeremiah Turner. 

"It'll be fun," Atkins said. "I played against them the past few years and I pretty much know what kind of players they are."  Are the Southern Section all-stars, including Eskias McDaniels of Valencia, Chris Williams of Notre Dame and Cayce Cook of Chaminade, good enough to beat their City counterparts?  "There's been a little talking back and forth about who's got the better team," Atkins said. "We'll have to see. They've got some pretty good players, but we'll be able to take them. We've got some good shooters over here." 

Dennis said Atkins and Montgomery shouldn't get overconfident.  "I hope they don't think they're going to win," said Dennis, who played a significant part in the Cleveland-San Fernando rivalry that existed before Atkins and Montgomery transferred. "I'll always have in the back of my mind the Cleveland-San Fernando rivalry, but, to tell you the truth, I'm just going to have fun [Saturday]."  The City Section team, which also includes James Word of Poly and Richard Harrison of Chatsworth, is coached by Adam Levitt and James Morris of Cleveland.   The Southern Section team, which also includes Marcin Jagoda of Crespi, J.J. Todd of Chaminade and Michael Goldman of Calabasas, is coached by Dick Dornan of Crespi. 

In the girls' game, it appears the Southern Section will have most of the fun.

For the first time in the Battle of the Valley game, The Times' Valley and Ventura County players of the year will be on the same team.   Omelogo Udeze of Harvard-Westlake and Damaris Hinojosa of Moorpark will be teammates, which could be bad news for the City Section. 

"They're probably a little bigger--we don't have much size," said City Coach Lori Chandler of El Camino Real. "[Hinojosa] is a great passer. She just runs the show."  But if tradition holds up, it will be a close game. The Southern Section, despite having bigger-name players the previous two years, has never blown out the City Section. City all-stars include Tashean Thomas and Markia Derby of North Hollywood and Cara Blumfield of El Camino Real.  Other Southern Section all-stars include Mary Myllykoski of Royal, Vonetta Lanier of Palmdale and Briana Kentfield of Hart. The coach is Dave Munroe of Hart.

 
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