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County hoopsters enjoy ICB All-Star games
ANDERSON — More than 140 high school basketball players and recent graduates descended upon Anderson University on Saturday to compete in the 10th edition of the Indiana Class Basketball All-Star Classic.
Included in those numbers were four players from Putnam County — recent Greencastle grad Colin York and seniors-to-be Tori Combs and Jake Wilkes of Cloverdale and Allen Plunkett of South Putnam.
York competed in the Senior Boys game on Friday afternoon.
York scored five points as his team lost 93-70. Cascade graduate Dalton DuBois, playing on his future collegiate court, scored 12 points and added four rebounds and two assists.
York was honored as his team’s winner of the Kent Benson Fellowship of Christian Athletes award.
On Saturday afternoon, Combs was clutch down the stretch as her team won a 61-56 decision.
With 12.4 seconds remaining and her team leading by two points, Combs was fouled and stepped to the line to swish both free throws.
She then stole the inbounds pass and converted a layup to seal the win for her team.
“It was definitely intimidating at first,” said Combs, a post player for Cloverdale who is normally one of the tallest players on the floor — but not on this day. “It was a lot of fun to play, and to meet new girls. I think I did OK, but I could have done better.”
Combs finished with 11 points (tied for second most on her team), five rebounds and two assists.
One of Combs’ baskets was a 3-pointer, something that she doesn’t shoot on her school team — but something she knows she needs to add to her game as she moves up to the college level next year.
“I’ve been working on it,” she said. “It’s gotten better, but it still needs some work.”
Combs and her Clover teammates have been busy practicing and playing in two summer leagues and other tournament competition.
She is planning a college visit this summer to Manchester, where longtime teammate Abby Walker will be a freshman this fall.
“We’ve had some ups and downs this month with the school team, but it’s been pretty good overall,” she said. “We have a lot of experience back and we’re looking forward to having a good season.”
On Saturday night, Plunkett scored six points and added six rebounds and four assists as his team won 95-80.
Plunkett thought he played “all right,” but like many players wishes he had hit more shots.
“It was a fun experience,” he said. “I met some new guys and saw some old friends. It was a good experience.”
Plunkett and his Eagle teammates are priming for the year they have been waiting for, since many of them broke into the varsity lineup as freshmen three years ago.
“Our team is playing well together,” he said. “We are scoring points and getting buckets. This is the year we are waiting for, and we are ready for it.”
Plunkett received a scholarship offer from Division II Urbana University in Ohio earlier this year, and has also had a lot of interest from Division III schools DePauw, Wabash and Bethel.
He said he’s taking his time in his college decision, and will not necessarily pick the highest level of competition available to him.
“I’m looking for a school that’s going to help me later on in life, rather than just basketball,” he said. “I want to be able to get a good job to be able to make some money.”
Plunkett plans to study business, with an emphasis on sports.
He is playing next month in the Top 100 Workout sponsored by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, and is also playing for the Indiana Faith AAU program this spring and summer (except for school team activities in June).
“The Faith team is going great,” he said. “I really like the coach and the guys, and we play well together. It’s been a fun summer.”
Wilkes, like Plunkett, did not get cheated in playing time since both of their teams were involved in games with six players on each side.
Wilkes had nine points, seven rebounds and three assists as his team picked up an easy 124-94 win.
He thought he played “OK” in the game, in spite of recovering from an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week and having competed earlier in the day for the Cloverdale school team.
“It was really fun, but it would have been more fun if I didn’t have a bum ankle,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play in this or not. I just played through it the best I could.”
Wilkes was especially proud of his rebound numbers.
“My coach [Patrick Rady] always tells me to work on playing defense and the offense will come,” he said. “I thought I rebounded pretty well. These are more experienced players, and most of them have been playing longer than me.”
Wilkes thought his team had a little bit of a slow start, but picked it up. His team’s leading scorer was Floyd Central’s Cobie Barnes, a 6-6 Division I prospect who had 43 points.
“We all started hitting as the game went along,” Wilkes said. “I had never even heard of Cobie before this game, but he’s a great player.”
Wilkes likes the summer his Cloverdale team has had so far. Parker Watts and Jake Kelley haven’t played much in June, but he sees others such as incoming freshman Kyle Thomas and sophomore Nolan Kelley stepping up.
“When we get Parker and Jake back, with the work the other guys are doing, I think we can win another sectional,” said Wilkes, whose school has won four straight titles. “It’s definitely weird playing without [leading scorer] Jalen Moore. He and I are really good friends, and we were a duo too.”
Wilkes has also been busy going to football workouts. Last year, he was 14th in the state in sacks.
He has no preference right now about which sport to pursue collegiately.
“I am just trying to go to college,“ he said. “And I want to keep playing one of the sports I love.”
