The South boys' teams cruised to victories in the 4 highest classifications on the first night of the OACA boys basketball all-star series for graduating seniors.  The 2A North squad started off the night with a 100-85 victory over the South, but the South controlled the rest of the night winning the last 4 games, each by double-digits.

In the opening 2A game, Oakland's Coleton Baker led a balanced North attack with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists.  The North squad posted 6 players in double figures - Oakridge's Blake Ritz (16), Western Mennonite's Geoffrey Martin (12), Delphian's Alex Bouneff (12), and East Linn Christian's Kyle Kruesi (10).

The North broke open a 41-41 tie at halftime by shooting 60% from the field in the 2nd half.  Both teams struggled from the 3 point line in the first half with the North going 3-19 and the South not faring much better with a 3-13 showing.  The difference in the 2nd half was that the South kept shooting 3's, again going 3-13, while the North went 3-8 and moved the ball inside the arc hitting 21-32 (66%).  The North also nailed their free throws going 22-34 (65%) while the South converted only 3-10 (30%).  Knappa's Jesse Moreland led all scorers with 19 points and 15 boards while De La Salle's Donta Harris added 18 and 6 assists and Portland Christian's Ryan Miller put up 15 points and 10 boards.  The boxscore can be found here.

In the 3A clash, Cascade Christian's Scott Morse paced the South with 27 points and 12 rebounds, leading them to the 105-79 victory over the North.  Harrisburg's Justin Smucker added 15 while Regis' Derek Piete and Bandon's Max DeVillers both chipped in 14.  Sheridan contributed the bulk of the North's points with Gregory Butler leading the way with 20 points while teammate Nike Rentsch added 19.  Former league rival, Dayton's Cobin Lorenzen added 10 while Valley Catholic's Chris Keifer put up 9 points and 12 boards.

In this game, 3 pointers and free throws also made the difference.  The South hit 16-33 (49%) on 3's, with 8 in each half, allowing them to pull away from a 49-42 halftime lead.  Everyone on the South team that shot a 3 pointer made at least one of them.  They also converted 21-34 free throws (62%).  The North struggled in these areas, going 5-29 on 3's (17%) including just 1-13 in the 2nd half.  They also made just 10-22 from the line (46%).  The boxscore can be found here.

The 4A matchup was the most lopsided of the night, with the South jumping out to a 39-22 halftime lead and cruising to a 93-62 blowout.  Sutherlin's Joey Atterbury came off the bench to lead the South with 16 points while Sisters' Ross Erickson added 15 points and 9 boards.  Henley's Austin Lesueur added 11, Cottage Grove's David Black put in 10, and Brookings-Harbor's Fred Corpening added 9 points, 9 boards, and 4 steals.

The North struggled from the 3-point line (notice a trend anyone?) starting ice-cold with 0-10 in the first half and finishing just 4-22 (18%).  Tillamook's Luke Oldenkamp led the way for the North with 13 points.  Philomath's Dan Haynes added 11 points, Tillamook's Blaine Kuehnert added 10, and Cascade's Justin Lowder added 9 points and 10 rebounds.  The boxscore can be found here.

The 5A game brought some excitement back to the evening with the night's closest game, a 73-62 victory for the South.  Corvallis' Ben Olayinka put up an impressive 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the South.  He was supported by Churchill's Jordan Myers, who added 12 points, 4 assists, and 5 steals along with Willamette's Matt Dodson who contributed 9 points and 8 boards.  The South didn't shoot particularly well, going 30-77 (39%) with 4-17 (24%) from behind the arc.  The South excelled with defense, though, limiting the North to just 27% from the field (19-71) including 2-21 (10%) from 3 point range.

The North converted an amazing 22-27 (82%) from the free-throw line.  Century's Cameron McCaffery led the way with 22 points, 6 boards, and a 6-6 showing from the line.  Madison's Andre Dickson added 13 points going 7-10 from the line.  Hermiston's 6'0" Brad Irwin may have been cold from the field, managing just 1 point, but he did his work in the paint grabbing 14 rebounds along with 4 steals.  The boxscore can be found here.

The 6A nightcap game saw the South gliding to a 86-69 win that features a 3-point shooting barrage in the first half.  Both teams combined for 45 3-point attempts in the first half alone with the South going 11-29 (38%) and the North managing just 3-16 (19%), enabling the South to stake a 52-33 lead at halftime.  Both teams went ice-cold from behind the arc in the 2nd half, though, combining to shoot just 1-24.  The South made the only 3 in the half, going 1-11 (9%) and finishing the night 12-40 (30%) from 3-point range.  The North failed to make a 3 in the second half, going 0-13 and ending up 3-29 (10%).

The South had a very balanced attack, which was key since they only had 7 players.  All of them contributed to the stat sheet.  Sprague's Brandon Blair led all scorers with 21 points while Central Catholic's Damas Gakwasi nearly had a triple-double with 8 points, 9 boards, and 8 assists.  Barlow's duo of Robbie Nielsen and Drew Johnson chpped in with Nielsen recording 13 points, 5 boards, and 4 steals while Johnson contributed 6 points, 11 boards, 7 assists, and 3 steals.  Sheldon had their own duo with Tyler Reynolds adding 18 points and 6 rebounds and Wyatt Davis putting in 9 points and 10 boards.  North Salem's Jon Zarate rounded out the squad by scoring 11 points.

For the North, West Linn's Johnel Gray led the way with 20 points and 12 rebounds.  Newberg's Taylor Braun added 14 points, 10 boards, and 3 assists and Wilson's Derrick Hayes pulled down 9 boards to go with 4 points.  Tualatin's duo of A.J. Freeman and Brandon Troxel teamed up with Freeman hitting for 12 points and 6 boards while Troxel grabbed 8 rebounds to go with 5 points.  The boxscore can be found here.

The all-star series continues Saturday at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City with the 2A game starting things off at 1:30.  More info can be found here.