———————

BOYS TEAMS

East

Logan Depew, Newberry

Marquette's Ty Lotterman jumps up to save the ball from going out of bounds as teammate Lincoln Sager looks on during the fourth quarter of a high school basketball game played against Negaunee at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Feb. 18. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Caleb Kohlmann, Cedarville

Brandon Frazer, Escanaba

Trenton Wood-Keshick, Bark River-Harris

Nick Javurek, BR-Harris

Carter Zawacki, BR-Harris

Jackson Ingalls, a June graduate of St. Ignace LaSalle High School, referees at a high school basketball involving the Marquette Senior High School boys basketball team, whose head coach Brad Nelson can be seen at lower right. (Eden Laase photo)

Joey Stein, Bark River-Harris

Micah Bailey, Maplewood Baptist

Head coach — Marc Zawacki, BR-Harris

———————

West

Negaunee's Mason Sager, front left, is defended by his cousin from Marquette, Lincoln Sager, near half court in the fourth quarter of their high school basketball game played at Lakeview Memorial Gymnasium in Negaunee on Feb. 18. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Justin Nelson, West Iron County

Nathan Thompson, WIC

Eli Luokkala, Negaunee

Lincoln Sager, Marquette

Ty Lotterman, Marquette

Lane Kortmeier, Bessemer

Beau Koffman, Carney-Nadeau

Ian Gorzinski, North Central

Head coach — Rich Matrella, Bessemer

———————

GIRLS TEAMS

East

Nicole Kamin, Escanaba

Megan Crow, Gladstone

Emmalee Hart, St. Ignace

Hallie Marshall, St. Ignace

Lilly Alaspa, Sault Ste. Marie

Jordyn Haller, Sault Ste. Marie

Chelsey Molina, Rudyard

Elysia Causley, Cedarville

Cassidy Barr, Cedarville

Head coach — Carlos Molina, Rudyard

———————

West

Emma Anderson, Menominee

Josie Hofer, Menominee

Jenna Nolden, Menominee

Erin Barrette, Menominee

Maryellen Trewhella, Houghton

Andie Arsenault, North Central

Ella Menigoz, Ontonagon

Teddy Menigoz, Ontonagon

Allison Richer, BR-Harris

Jordan Shamion, WIC

Head coach — Eric Shamion, WIC

———————-

The games:

• Saturday at St. Ignace LaSalle High School

• Skills contests, 10 a.m.

• Girls game, 11 a.m.

•

Boys game, 1 p.m.

——————

ST. IGNACE — The on-again, off-again Upper Peninsula All-Star Classic basketball game is back on.

And it will be held in just a few days on Saturday at LaSalle High School in St. Ignace.

The game, conducted by the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame, had been called off earlier this year due to a variety of circumstances.

Then Jackson Ingalls of St. Ignace jumped in and with the help of his parents — St. Ignace basketball coaches Dorene and Doug Ingalls — contacted numerous spring graduates to play in the game.

Helping the Ingalls put the game together at the last minute were new UPSHF council member Tony Haller of Sault Ste. Marie and Iron Mountain Daily News sportswriter Matt McCarthy.

“We needed to get back to it,” Jackson Ingalls said. “This is a special thing we have here in the U.P. and this is something they (the players) have worked hard for all these years.”

Jackson Ingalls, who just graduated from LaSalle, will be attending Grand Valley State this fall. Despite his youthful age of 18, he has officiated basketball for nearly a decade, including working at GLIAC college basketball and several UPSHF All-Star Classic games.

The U.P. girls will play at 11 a.m. with the boys following at about 1 p.m. A variety of skills contests, including 3-point and free throw shooting, along with dunking, will be held at 10 a.m.

The All-Star Classic began in 1986 and proceeds go to the Hall of Fame’s scholarship fund, where four annual recipients receive $500 annually toward their college expenses. The 2021 scholarship recipients will be announced later.

The 35th edition marks the return of the games after the 2020 version was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. That issue also forced cancellation of a major part of the 2020 MHSAA high school basketball tournament.

Each game will include players divided into East and West teams. Players must be already-graduated seniors who have completed their high school eligibility due to MHSAA rules.

Normally highway M-28 is used as the dividing line for the North-South format, but the East-West division offered a better matchup of players available this year. The East team will be considered the home team in each game.

Nicole Kamin of Escanaba, named Miss U.P. Basketball this season by the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, will play for the East girls. The Grand Valley State recruit finished her career with a school-record 1,329 points. She will be joined on the East by future GVSU teammate Megan Crow of Gladstone.

Emma Anderson of Menominee, the 2020 U.P. Miss Basketball, will play for the West girls. She has a basketball scholarship to Wayne State University.

Foster Wonders of Iron Mountain, who earned Mr. U.P. Basketball honors the past three years, will not be able to attend as he has already begun classes at Southern Illinois University. He received a basketball scholarship with the Salukis.

Wonders, runner-up in the Michigan’s Mr. Basketball race to Pierre Brooks of Detroit Douglass, became the all-time U.P. boys scoring leader this season with 2,286 points, surpassing the 2,178 set by Gage Kreski of St. Ignace in 2016. Kreski had surpassed a previous record dating back to 1965 of 2,140 points established by Dom Jacobetti of Negaunee St. Paul.

Carlos Molina of Rudyard, Eric Shamion of West Iron County, Rich Matrella of Bessemer and Marc Zawacki of Bark River-Harris will be the all-star coaches. Zawacki, an Escanaba Public Safety officer, has stepped down as BR-H coach.

From area schools in Marquette, Alger, Schoolcraft, Luce and Baraga counties, four boys were named to rosters. They include Ty Lotterman and Lincoln Sager of Marquette and Eli Luokkala of Negaunee on the West, along with Logan Depew of Newberry on the East.

It was also reported that Marquette’s Kam Karp, who has already been named to three all-star games in football and basketball, wouldn’t be able to attend Saturday’s game due to previous commitments.

No area girls were named for that game.

Dennis Grall is the executive secretary of the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame and is the former sports editor of the Daily Press in Escanaba.

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