All-star season continues for Valley players
For the third time in a week, the best and the brightest from the state’s high school boys basketball scene will gather in an allstar format.
The second-annual Rhode Island Higher Learning Sports Spring Classic will tip at 7 p.m. tonight at Portsmouth High School. The contest will feature the top talent from the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council.
The Blackstone Valley will be well represented at Portsmouth, the list of participants including Abdul Ajia (Shea), Tommy Beauchemin (Lincoln), Sam Hunt (Wheeler, Woonsocket native), Trevante Jones (St. Raphael), Brandon Kolek (Cumberland), Tyler Kolek (Cumberland), Peter Wilson (St. Raphael) and Jackson Zancan (Cumberland).
For Brandon Kolek, Ajia, Jones, and Wilson, Wednesday will mark their third postseason all-star contest. Each of them participated in the R.I. Basketball Coaches Association All-Star contest at Rhode Island College and again took the floor at CCRI-Warwick for the Futures Game portion of the All About The Buckets 2K17.
The hoop gathering at Portsmouth also includes two participants with Providence Friar basketball intrigue. Cole Swider, a Portsmouth native and a PC target from the Class of 2018, will be playing. A junior at St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, Swider was recently named the 2016-17 R.I. Gatorade Player of the Year.
Andrew Fonts last December announced that he will join next year’s Providence squad as a preferred walk-on. Fonts recently finished his high school playing career at Portsmouth Abbey.
Tickets for Wednesday night are $7 for adults and $4 for children/students. Those under the age of five are admitted free. A portion of the proceeds will go to the James L. Maher Center in Middletown.