Boys Basketball: Red team of seniors knocks off Grey rising stars team to win title during all-star event

ELYRIA — Avon's Gavyn Kittelberger was not about to let a bunch of underclassmen take away the seniors' spotlight.The Eagles sharpshooter drilled back-to-back 3-pointers that helped the Red team start a 11-3 run, leading his senior all-star team to a 56-36 win against the Grey rising stars team."It feels good," said Kittelberger, who was named MVP of the finals. "Going against the top players I just wanted to prove myself and just have fun at the All-Star Game."The Lorain County All-Star Game featured a different format. Instead of a senior game and a rising stars game, the participants were divided into six teams — two senior teams (Red and Blue) and four rising stars teams (Green, Grey, Orange and Black) — then slotted in a single-elimination bracket with the four rising stars teams playing for the chance to each face one of the senior teams in the semifinals. The winners met for the championship.The five games featured one 16-minute half utilizing Elam Ending rules, which specify that once the clock expires the teams will play until one hits a target score. In this instance, the target score was five points better than the winning team's score at the end of the 16-minute period.In every game, the team that was winning at the end of the 16-minute period went on to win the game. The Orange team defeated the Black team 49-44 and the Grey team defeated the Green team 43-33.The Red team defeated the Orange team 34-29. This was the only game in which the losing team managed to tie the winning team after the Elam Ending was triggered. The Grey team upset the Blue team 54-37 in the other semifinal."This is a special thing having fun out here with all these guys," said Elyria Catholic junior Matisse Williams, who scored 11 points for the Grey team in the final. "There are a bunch of special players out here. It's fun to come out here and compete. This was fun. I like this tournament a lot better. It forces you to play harder instead of just one game and you're done for the day."Lorain sophomore Javell Morris, who ultimately led his team with 12 points, helped the Grey team off to a 10-8 lead, scoring four points in the first six minutes. Williams also had four points during that stretch.But once Kittelberger drilled his first 3-pointer, he'd go on a tear — scoring eight points in the next two minutes to help the Red team to a 25-16 lead. Kittelberger finished with 16 points, his final three off a trio of free throws to give the Red team a 36-23 lead.Elyria's Kendyll Compton, who earlier in the evening was named Lorain County Mr. Basketball, closed the door on the Grey team as he scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the final minutes — which were ultimately all but four of the Red team's final 14 points."I first started off by playing hard defense because in the first game we started off down," Kittelberger said. "I knew we needed that kind of energy to pick it up. I made that connect to my game and improved over time. It feels good because everyone around here is cheering and everything. It feels good to play in this game."Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.