East Women Hold Off West; West, Led by MVP Turner, Win 119-80 in 71st Annual NCCA East-West All-Star Basketball – Wyatt Smith Reporting

The women’s East All-Star team battled off a late comeback by the West All-Stars in the 45th Annual NCCA East-West All-Star Game at the Greensboro Coliseum on Monday night.

The game featured Ledford’s Lyric Thorne and two Surry County players, with Mt. Airy HS’s Shaunae Sawyers and East Surry’s Elle Sutphin, a late addition and N.C. State-commit.

The teams combined to make the first eight baskets of the game, but the East took over as the West struggled to make shots in the second quarter. The East led 48-35 at half.

The West was able to keep the game within reach in the third with good defense.

A fourth quarter comeback by the West gave them a chance to tie the game at the end of regulation, but they were outmatched and unable to get off a last-second attempt.

Elle Sutphin led West scorers with 17 points, Lyric Thorne paced the team with 16 points, and Shaunae Sawyers contributed 10 points.

Alexandria Scruggs, representing E.E. Smith High School, from the East All-Stars was named the MVP.

The final score was 81-78.

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The West All-Stars put on a shooting show as three Guilford County graduates stepped up in the Greensboro Coliseum to defeat the East All-Stars 119-80 in the 71st Annual Men’s East-West All-Star Basketball Game.

The game featured two of Southwest Guilford’s key players in their 2019 NCHSAA 3-A State Championship, Queens-bound Jay’den Turner, and UNCG Spartan Keyshaun Langley, with High Point Central’s Dhieu Deing.

The three made local fans proud and represented High Point impressively as they carried out a battle-plan that was drawn up by head coach Mike Muse of East Forsyth. The plan was to try to break the team all-time scoring record for the tournament, which is 124 points

It was apparent within the four minutes of the game that the West team was playing a more organized brand of basketball than their opponents after they took the lead with six minutes remaining in the opening frame. They wouldn’t relinquish it for the rest of the night and never trailed in the game.

The score at the end of the first quarter was 30-17 in the West’s favor.

The team continued to dominate in the second, without many mistakes. They seemed to be well acclimated to the coliseum environment and the team was playing at their own tempo. The lead at halftime was a commanding 61-28.

The West came out of the halftime break and continued to have its way with the East. The East showed better composure in parts through the quarter, but at the end of three, the West lead had grown to 40 – 91-51.

In the final quarter, Muse was heard exclaiming “Twenty more!” when the West reached the 104 point mark with 5:40 left in regulation. With the way the game had progressed, it seemed as if the West was going to break the elusive scoring record. The team pushed all the way until Jay’den Turner slammed home the final basket for the West with 29 seconds left, but came up 5 points short of the coveted 124. The final score was a stunning 119-80.

Jay’den Turner was awarded the game’s MVP award and led West scorers with 24 points with 8 rebounds.

“It felt good to get the win and play with my teammate Keyshaun,” Turner said.

“It will feel pretty good looking back later in life to know that I was MVP,” he added.

Keyshaun Langley controlled the pace of the game and his team while on the floor, giving the crowd a glimpse of what is to come when he will don the Spartan Gold this coming season. He finished with 7 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds.

“It was nice to see what it will look like when I come to UNCG and try to bring the crowd out with my style of play,” Langley said.

Langley provided an insight into why the Southwest boys played so well for Muse.

“Coach Muse got us together practicing and playing team ball instead of individual ball. Some of the stuff (Muse) was drawing up was similar to the stuff Coach Shavers was drawing up this past season and that help contribute to the win out here.”

Dhieu Deing scored 15 points for the West and had 6 rebounds. The High Point native spoke of the importance of playing in front of the home crowd one last time.

“I was doing it for my family and my city. I loved it,” Deing said.

Wheatmore’s Gavin Rains had the only double-double on the night with 16 points and 13 rebounds.