By Angela Watts
Content Managing Editor, DigitalSports.com
** Highlights added! Look below the story for three separate video players showing highlights from all three of Saturday night’s events.**
The best Northern Region boy’s basketball players took center stage at Mount Vernon High School Saturday evening for the first annual DigitalSports Basketball Showcase.
More than 600 fans filed into Skinner Field House to watch 49 different Northern Region players representing 24 of the area’s 30 schools participate in the three-and-a-half hour event that included a three-point shootout, a slam dunk contest and an All-Star game.
It even took two extra periods to decide the All-Star game, as the Liberty/National District All-Stars, led by Langley Coach Travis Hess, edged the Patriot/Concorde District All-Stars, led by T.C. Williams state champion Coach Ivan Thomas, 111-108, in double overtime. The game was filled with high-flying dunks, sharp-shooting from the outside and well-timed passes, but it was — perhaps fittingly — Major senior Marquel De Lancey who took home MVP honors after leading his squad to victory on his home floor. De Lancey scored all 20 of his team-high points after half time.
The field of three-point shooters was whittled from 26 competitors to down to two finalists — W.T. Woodson senior Coleman Bacon and South Lakes senior Curtis Keys. They squared off in a head-to-head competition that looked as if it might also end in a tie, but Keys drained the three-point “money” ball on his final rack to narrowly defeat Bacon, 10-8.
The night’s final event saw the field of slam dunkers reduced from 11 to two, pitting South Lakes senior Jay Bowman against Annandale senior Erik Etherly in one final head-to-head battle with two dunks each. The pair stood knotted at 46 after one dunk each (the maximum score was 50), but Etherly garnered three more points from the judges on his final dunk for the 93-90 win.
All-Star Game 1st 2nd OTs — FINAL
Concorde/Patriot 34 65 9 108
Liberty/National 36 63 12 — 111
Concorde/Patriot — Ryan Farrar, CV, 1 2-2 4; Bart Reese, OK, 1 0-0 3; Craig Gaylord, WP, 3 0-1 7; Anthony Winbush, TC, 11 0-0 25; Travis Berry, TC, 3 0-0 9; Drew Aunon, RB, 1 0-0 2; Erik Etherly, AN, 11 6-7 28; Aaquil Atkins, HF, 4 2-4 13; Tad Dickman, LE, 3 2-2 10; Josh Jordan, TC, 3 0-0 6. Team totals: 42 12-16 111. Liberty/National — Jay Bowman, SL, 5 3-3 13; Marquel De Lancey, MV, 7 6-11 20; Curtis Keys, SL, 3 0-0 7; Reggie Williams, WK, 3 0-0 6; Drew Smerdinski, MD, 1 0-0 2; Ahmed Malik, LG, 3 2-2 9; Jamire Davis, ED, 6 4-4 19; Greg Whitaker, WT, 3 1-2 7; Tarek Ammoury, ML, 3 2-2 8; David Grebb, YK, 0 2-2 2; Kendall Wallace, ED, 6 0-2 12; Ryan Davenport, LG, 1 1-2 4. Team totals: 41 19-30 111. Three-pointers — Concorde/Patriot 13 (Winbush 3, Berry 3, Atkins 3, Dickman 2, Gaylord, Reese); Liberty/National 6 (Davis 3, Davenport, Keys, Malik).
All-Star Game
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