East trio too much for Burleson, West All-Stars
CONWAY — Jessieville standout Alex Burleson may have stood tall for the West in Saturday’s Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star boys basketball game, but the East prevailed, 124-87, behind a starring trio.
The combined efforts of Earle’s Travonta Doolittle, Osceola’s Dante Adams and Greene County Tech’s Payton Guiot helped the East rebound from last year’s loss to the West after a seven-year win streak.
Burleson, who earned Outstanding Player honors for the West, led his team with 21 points while grabbing six rebounds with one assist. The Class 3A All-State performer went 8-for-12 from the field, including draining two of his three shots from 3-point range while sinking all three of his attempts from the charity stripe.
“It feels good,” the National Park College signee said of earning the honor. “Recognition is always good, and I work hard.
“Hunter Daley was here a couple years ago, and he got Outstanding Player for his side. So, I felt obligated almost (to earn it as well). I think I did (represent Jessieville well).”
Unfortunately, his 66 percent shooting from the field was not enough to compensate for the West’s 40 percent shooting, 32 of 80.
Doolittle claimed the Most Valuable Player award as he put up 24 of the points for the East while grabbing give rebounds with two assists, two blocks and two steals versus four turnovers. Adams was the team’s Outstanding Player with 19 points and nine boards with four steals and four assists.
The pair shot a combined 18-for-36 from the field, 50 percent, while the rest of the team shot 52 percent, 50 of 96, including a blistering 17 of 41, 41.5 percent, from outside the arc.
“Travonta is an exceptional player,” said East head coach Mark Whitmire, of Jonesboro Westside. “That was one of the big surprises to me. I knew he was a great player; I just didn’t know how great. He is a very, very good player, and played and showed it tonight. Dante Adams, from Osceola, he had another big night, big highlight dunks. All in all, I thought everybody played hard and did what they had to do to help them win.”
Guiot went 6 of 9 from the field, but just one of those attempts was from inside the arc as he put up 18 points from range while grabbing four rebounds. The former Golden Eagle shot 4-for-4 in the final period.
“A great shooter, shooting it from long range — Payton, he can shoot it, and we knew that,” Whitmire said. “It really helped us out.”
The West took an early lead with a trey from Har-Ber’s Tyler Garrett just 20 seconds into the game before the East inched ahead by the 6:04 mark. The West creeped ahead twice more before Gosnell’s Brandon Partee sank a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining in the first period to make it 17-15, giving the East a lead it would not relinquish.
The East blasted ahead early in the second period to lead, 27-15, after just 1:44 off the clock on its way to a 24-point period that saw the team drain four treys for a 41-25 lead.
The West rebounded in the third, thanks in part to four 3-pointers of its own in a 25-point period, including a pair by Burleson. Burleson was scratched on his second trey, nailing the shot from just outside the corner and drawing a foul with 1.7 seconds left in the second. The Lions graduate was sent to the bench to clean the blood from his face before stepping to the line for his first free throw of the night to pull the West within 55-50 before the break.
The West matched the East point-for-point early, but after a 3-pointer by Adams and a putback by Zachary Byrd, of West Memphis, off a missed free throw by Partee put the East ahead by 10, the West could not recover, falling 86-69 before entering the final period. Whitmire said was impressed with the performance from his team. “I thought they all played hard,” he said. “It was a good game, especially early on. We were only up five at the half. It was back and forth. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time I’ve ever been a head coach, and to watch these guys compete, they are all All-Stars. They played like it tonight.”
Despite the loss, Burleson said was excited to have the opportunity to represent the Lions again.
“Well, obviously we got blown out, but this whole experience was super cool,” Burleson said. “I had a lot of fun. I love these guys. They’re awesome. It’s cool to meet new people; it just wasn’t very pretty tonight.”