COOS BAY -- Right off the bat, you could tell the South Coast All-Star Basketball Games were different from the regular season.
In the pregame warm-ups at Southwestern Oregon Community College, several of the players were dunking the ball -- something that's not normally allowed.
Then, when the teams lined up for the opening tip the taller players watched as two of the shortest players North Bend's Logan Lucero and Coquille's Cole Waddington stepped to the center ring. For the record, Lucero easily won the tip, while Waddington claimed after the game that he had been distracted by his girlfriend in the packed bleachers.
The many fans might have noted the shot clock above the backboards -- the most visible sign that the teams were using college rules -- though it never got low enough that the teams had to panic.
When the teams got down to business in the competition, which included two players from most of the schools from Brookings to Florence, the Blue team took an early lead, never trailed and got the upper hand in a 78-68 win.
But the result wasn't the most important thing, even the players on the winning team said.
'It was nice to get all these players together," said Matt Newton of Myrtle Point, who played on the Blue team.
'It was for fun," he said, though he conceded 'It's still nice to win."
The teams played mostly unselfish ball. Within the first 10 minutes, every player had taken a shot, and by the end of the game, all 20 had scored.
Marshfield's Colton Thurman scored the first basket for the Blue team and the Red team never caught up. Garrett Litterell of Gold Beach hit a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to six, and a few moments later Gold Beach teammate Dustin Carter scored and the Blue team was up 10.
North Bend's Logan Lucero kept the Red team within contact by nailing four first-half 3-pointers on the way to finishing with a game-high 19 points, but the Blue team led 43-34 at halftime.
The Blue team's biggest lead was 17 points after the squad started the second half on an 11-3 run -- the three Red points by virtue of a 3-pointer by Marshfield post player Dalton Milburn -- and the lead was at least 10 points through the end of the game.
Lucero, a fiercely competitive athlete, bluntly stated 'Losing stinks," but added that the final result wasn't the important thing Saturday.
'It was nice to get on the court again," he said.
Since the players from one school were put on opposite teams as much as possible, Lucero also got the unique chance to play against North Bend teammates Aaron and Hamilton Mateski.
'It was fun getting to play against Aaron and Hamil," Lucero said.
He added that he also knew that even though the teams only gathered for a two-hour practice Saturday afternoon, there were no strangers for him on the Red squad.
'I knew everyone on my team from past games and middle school," he said.
Two Marshfield teammates also had a chance to go against each other on a couple plays. Ty Cutting took a charge from Thurman on one end of the floor and then Thurman swatted a shot by Cutting out of bounds on the other.
Because each school had a chance to nominate two players, the game featured athletes from Class 5A Marshfield all the way down to Class 1A Powers, and the kids from the smaller schools more than held their own.
Newton Allred of Powers had a game-high 14 rebounds to go with his 11 points for the victorious Blue team.
In one sequence of the second half, he also blocked consecutive shots by Milburn, something that rarely happened during the Midwestern League season, and grabbed the rebound after the second block.
'It's cool to play against guys of this level," said Allred, adding that he stepped up his intensity against the top players from the other schools.
Allred, who is 6 feet, 5 inches tall, and the 6-5 Newton took turns guarding the 6-7 Milburn.
'He's physical," Newton said. 'I've never played against anyone that big."
Newton had 10 points and six rebounds for the blue team. Thurman had a team-high 15 points and Coquille's Cole Waddington had 13 points. Siuslaw's Jake Thompson had eight points, while Brookings-Harbor's Tyler Wood had six. Carter had 10 rebounds and four points, helping the Blue squad to a 62-50 rebounding edge.
Brookings-Harbor's Nick Corpening had 11 points -- all in the final 10 minutes -- for the Red team, while Cutting added 10 and Milburn eight. Milburn and Reedsport's Hannes Zetzsche had seven rebounds each and Coquille's Tanner Howard added six for the Red team.
The other players for the red team were Pacific's Tyler Cline, Myrtle Point's Kyle Seals, Bandon's Kyle Freitag and Csagge McNeely of Powers.
The coaches for the Red team were Lee Pestana and Jesse Moore, while Chuck Crandall and John Johnson led the Blue team.
After the game, the players socialized happily.
'It was a lot of fun just playing with everyone on top of their team," said Corpening.
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