Juniors claim 122-110 exhibition win over Indiana All-Stars

  • 06/06/2017 10:33 pm in

NEW ALBANY, Ind. – Through the first five minutes of Tuesday’s exhibition between the Indiana All-Stars and the Junior All-Stars, it appeared Mr. Basketball Kris Wilkes would be the storyline of the night.

At the first timeout, Wilkes had 16 points and the Indiana All-Stars had a comfortable 28-19 lead.

But a 3-point barrage midway through the first half by De’Avion Washington of Terre Haute South kept the Juniors close going into halftime.

And in the second half, an offensive barrage was unleashed by the Junior All-Stars.

Seven players finished in double figures and the Juniors scored 72 second half points to claim a 122-110 exhibition win at New Albany in front of about 1,000 fans.

“They were definitely just out-muscling us early,” Bloomington North’s Musa Jallow said. “They’re a lot bigger than us and they were just getting their way on rebounds. We just knew that coming into the second half, we couldn’t let that happen.”

South Bend Riley forward Damezi Anderson led the Juniors with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field.

As important as Anderson’s performance was, the Indiana All-Stars simply had no answer for the numerous weapons on the floor for the Juniors.

Jallow scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and blocked three shots. The aforementioned Washington had 21 points, including a 5-of-8 performance from behind the 3-point line.

Tindley’s Eric Hunter had 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Aaron Henry of Ben Davis chipped in a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. And McCutcheon guard Robert Phinisee had 14 points and five assists.

Not even Wilkes, who finished with a game-high 33 points on 15-of-32 shooting, could muster up enough offense to overcome the performance put on by the Juniors in the second half.

“It meant a lot to us,” Hunter said of the win. “This was set up for us to lose, really. They got six practices before. And we got an hour of practice.”

The annual series now shifts north to Plainfield on Thursday for a second exhibition between the two teams.

It will be the final tuneup for the Indiana All-Stars in advance of this weekend’s series against Kentucky.

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