adidas Derby Festival Basketball Classic

Freedom Hall
Louisville, Kentucky
April 16, 2005

©2005 Ron Harrison

The Classic began in 1973 and is one of the nation’s finest and most popular high school All-Star games.  This year adidas is the new sponsor of the Classic.  Past performers in this field have been a virtual who’s who in the world of basketball.  Some of the notable members of these teams have included Moses Malone, Clark Kellog, John Paxson, Darrell Griffith, Dominique Wilkins, Sam Bowie, Isiah Thomas, Len Bias, Sam Perkins, Pervis Ellison, Milt Wagner, Chris Mullins, Rex Chapman, Rick Fox, Allan Houston, Damon Bailey, Eric Montross, Anfernee Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn, Damon Stoudemaire, Derek Anderson, Nazr Mohammed, Jamaal Magliore, and Quentin Richardson.

This year’s rosters include four McDonald’s All-Americans in Greg Paulus, Brandon Costner, Mario Chalmers, and Luke Zeller.  Five of the players on the rosters have committed to Louisville.  The players are Clarence Holloway, Jonathan Huffman, Andre McGee, Chad Millard, and Terrence WilliamsJared Carter has committed to play for Kentucky, and Luke Zeller and Ryan Ayers will continue their basketball careers at Notre Dame.  Joey Shaw has committed to play at Indiana.

All-Star Rosters

`

Gold Team

Coaches:

Jeff Marrow

Jeffersontown, KY

 

Billy Hicks

Scott County, KY

NAME

HEIGHT

   POS.   

   PPG   

HIGH SCHOOL

COLLEGE

Jared Carter

7-1

C

16

Scott County, KY

Kentucky

Darren Collison

6-0

PG

21

Etiwanda, CA

UCLA

Uche Echefu

6-9

PF

18

Montrose Christian, MD

Undecided

Alonzo Gee

6-6

WF

21

Dwyer, FL

Alabama

Vernon Goodridge

6-9

C

12

Lutheran Christian, PA

Mississippi State

Greg Paulus

6-1

PG

26

Christian Bro. Academy, NY

Duke

J. P. Prince

6-7

2G

25

White Station, NY

Arizona

Brandon Rush

6-6

WF

21

Mt. Zion Academy

Undecided 

Joey Shaw

6-6

WF

17

Deer Valley, AZ

Indiana

Domonic Tilford

6-0

PG

21

Jeffersontown, KY

Undecided 

Marcus Williams

6-8

2G

29

Roosevelt, WA

Arizona 

Ryan Wright

6-9

PF

21

Loyola

UCLA 

 

Black Team

Coaches:

Ronnie Chalmers

 

Bartlett HS, Anchorage, AK

 

Lloyd Gardner

Fairdale, KY

NAME

HEIGHT

   POS.   

   PPG   

HIGH SCHOOL

COLLEGE

Antonio Anderson

6-5

2G

21

Laurinburg Prep.

Memphis

Ryan Ayers

6-6

WF

17

Germantown Academy, PA

Notre Dame

Mario Chalmers

6-2

PG

26

Bartlett

Kansas

Shane Clark

6-6

WF

17

Hargrave Military Academy

Maryland

Brandon Costner

6-8

PF

19

Seton Hall Prep, NJ

NC State

Clarence Holloway

7-1

C

22

Fenger Academy, IL

Louisville 

Jonathan Huffman

6-11

PF

18

Central Park Christian, AL

Louisville 

Andre McGee

5-10

PG

25

Canyon Spring, CA

Louisville 

Chad Millard

6-8

WF

22

Brewster Academy, NH

Louisville 

Tyler Smith

6-7

PF

29

Giles County, TN

Tennessee 

Terrence Williams

6-6

WF

22

Rainier Beach, WA

Louisville 

Luke Zeller

6-11

C

20

Washington, IN

Notre Dame 

This game was filled with plenty of offense, slam dunks, and excitement as the Gold squad outscored the Black squad 39-26 in the final quarter to earn a 136-125 victory.  The victors shot 51.8% from the field including 11 of 27 from beyond the arc.  They connected on 11 of 21 free throws, pulled down 62 rebounds, and scored 36 points off 24 turnovers.  The Black squad shot 46.3% from the field including eight of 35 from the three point line.  They connected on 17 of 32 free throws, also pulled down 62 rebounds, and scored 44 points off 25 turnovers.

Marcus Williams and Alonzo Gee led the Gold team with 19 and 18 points respectively.  Joey Shaw, Domonic Tilford, and Brandon Rush added 17, 15 and 13 points respectively.  Greg Paulus was named team MVP as he added 11 points and dished out 10 assists.  Jared Carter added 10 points, while Uche Echefu pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Black team was led by Louisville signee Terrence Williams who entertained the crowd with several dunks among his game-high 32 points.  Williams also brought the pro-Louisville crowd to its feet during pre-game introductions as he knelt at midcourt to kiss the Cardinal symbol.  Mario Chalmers added 21 points and 10 assists.  Shane Clark chipped in with 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Jonathan Huffman, Brandon Costner, Tyler Smith, and Andre McGee added 12, 12, 11 and 10 points respectively.  Luke Zeller turned in a solid performance with six points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots, and four steals.

Chad Millard and Joey Shaw captured the two-on-two championship.  Ryan Ayers won the three point shooting contest and Terrence Williams claimed the slam dunk championship.  Tonight’s game was played before a crowd of 10,176.

Gold 

27

31

39

39

-

136

Black 

27

34

38

26

-

125

Gold

(136)

 - 

Gee 18, Echefu 5, Carter 10, Tilford 15, Prince 8, Paulus 11, Collison 7, Wright 9, Rush 13, Williams 19, Shaw 17, Goodridge 4.

Black 

(125)

 - 

Clark 12, Williams 32, Zeller 6, Millard 2, Chalmers 21, McGee 10, Anderson 0, Huffman 12, Costner 12, Smith 11, Ayers 5, Holloway 2.

Conclusion

This was a highly entertaining event with a lot of offense and plenty of crowd-pleasing dunks.  Several of these athletes should excel at the college level and eventually some at the NBA level.  The organizers and support did an excellent job with every aspect of this event and I greatly appreciated the hospitality extended me during the evening’s festivities.

Please send your comments and questions to Ron Harrison at prephoops@yahoo.com.

Ron Harrison’s reports on this and other basketball events appear on https://www.angelfire.com/ky/prephoops.