MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / July 24, 2000

BATON ROUGE – The West squad blocked out any attempt by the East squad to use its height advantage, taking a wire-to-wire 77-65 victory Thursday night in the Louisiana High School Coaches Association’s All-Star boys’ basketball game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

West St. John’s Jeremy Lumar, the tallest player on either team at 6-9,scored eight points for the West squad. Lumar hit two of his five shotsfrom the field, including one of his three 3-point attempts, and 3-of-6 free throws. He also grabbed four rebounds, two on each end.St. Thomas More’s Brandon Mouton was the game’s MVP with a game-high24-points for the West. Mouton, an University of Texas-signee, hit nine ofhis 12 shots from the floor, including all five of his 3-point attempts. Healso had a team-high eight rebounds.

Faced with the size disadvantage, West coach Antoine Edwards of West St.

John went to the team’s advantage of speed and quickness.

“We knew going in they had a lot of size,” Edwards, who led the Rams to the Class 2A state title this season, said. “We knew we had to utilizewhat we had. We had a lot of quick guys who could move and run the floorand we did that. We never lost our composure and that was a key to thewin.”Despite the height advantage, the East squad out-rebounded the West by only a 66-59 margin and were out-rebounded on the defensive end.

“All week in practice, we worked on blocking out,” Lumar said. “They hadthe size but we had the speed and that’s what won the game.”Edwards said another key to the game was defense. The West held the Eastto 24-of-84 (28.6 percent) from the floor and caused 18 turnovers, 14 onsteals.

“What they did defensively was sap down,” East coach Butch Stockton of St. Bernard said. “When you can’t hit from the outside (4-of-18 on 3-pointers), your inside game is not as strong.”Brad Boyd of St. Thomas More gave the West the lead for good with a 3-pointer from the left side on the game’s opening possession. Mouton thenhit a 3-pointer and took an alley-oop pass from Boyd for a dunk to give the West a 9-3 lead. Boyd would finish with nine points for the West.The East would get the lead down to two behind a 3-pointer by Southern Lab’s Trayvean Scott but the West came back with a 3-pointer by Shaw’s Chad Harman and two free throws by Summerfield’s Darryl Ford to take a 21-10 lead with 11:18 left in the half. Ford was second on the West teamwith 10 points.

Lumar came in at the 9:57 mark with the West leading 23-14. Lumar saidhe didn’t think he would get a chance to play in the game after reaggravating an ankle injury earlier in the week but said the trainers did a great job of getting him ready for the game. He would hit the second oftwo free throws, then added a 3-pointer from the right corner to give the West it’s biggest lead of the half at 30-16.

The East began chipping into the deficit behind a 3-pointer by Catholic’s Trey Pinegar. Drives by St. Amant’s Rodrick Hall and Central’s Trey Guidrymade it 33-29 with 2:46 left. The East got it down to three on two freethrows by Hall but the West answered with a 3-pointer by Mouton and a layup by Ascension Catholic’s Lane Frey to take a 40-32 lead into halftime.

Lumar started the second half and scored on two free throws and a put back to give the West a 46-32 lead. The East would cut the deficit to 12on a drive by Scott but the West came right back with 3-pointers by Mouton and Boyd for a 58-40 lead. The West then went on a 15-6 run,capped by drives by Ford and Leesville’s Darnell Bradley, to take its biggest lead at 73-46 with 6:58 in the game.

The East made a late run, out-scoring the West 19-4 the rest of the way, behind baskets by Southern Lab’s Nick Anderson, Marion’s Curtis Boyette and Peabody’s Rashid Smith.

Carver’s Lauri Bridges led the East with eight points. St. Bernard’sTarrance Richard and Peabody’s Reggie Rambo chipped in with seven apiece while Anderson had a game-high nine rebounds.

The West shot 36.8 percent (28-of-76) from the field for the game,including 33.3 percent (10-of-30) from 3-point land. Included in the team’s 59 rebounds were 44 on the defensive side of the ball. Willie Orphey of Lake Charles-Boston had seven defensive rebounds togo with Mouton’s six.

For both Edwards and Lumar, the victory capped a memorable 1999-2000 season.

“I had fun all week,” Lumar said.

Edwards joked he could now take a few weeks off before getting started with football.

“I was glad to be here and I’m glad we did well,” Edwards said.

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