EHS senior Ethan Crews and coach Derrell Jackson on Saturday right after the North-South All-Star Basketball Game. Crews stepped up with 9 points in the North team’s victory.
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Pictured is Easley High School’s Ethan Crews (far left) with Brock Cherry (Wren), Dontez Walker (JL Mann), Jaleel McGee (Powdersville) and Roman Cooley (Greenville). They all played for the North All-Star team.
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EASLEY — Back in 2013, Troy McGowens (from Easley High School) played in the prestigious North-South All-Star basketball game.
Then for 10-plus years, no Green Wave athlete had played in the North-South boys all-star basketball game.
That’s quite a drought!
But last Saturday afternoon, sharpshooting Ethan Crews put a stop to that string and played for the North team in a 94-83 win over the South at Brookland-Cayce High School. Crews scored 9 points, pulled down 5 rebounds, had 2 assists and 1 steal … in a limited amount of playing time on a 12-player team.
“It was exciting. I got to meet different players from around the state,” Crews said, shortly after the victory. “It was a good experience.”
Wren High School’s Brock Cherry (also on the Blue team) took home MVP honors with a team-high 15 points.
“I’m glad I got to compete against a lot of high-level players going to the next level,” Cherry said. “I’m glad I got to showcase my skills as well.”
Brock and Ethan grew up playing hoops against each other and were teammates for a couple of years.
“He (Crews) is a great player,” Brock said. “I played against him for two years in school ball and he gave us problems. Then in AAU ball, he was my teammate. Just a great guy overall and a great teammate. He’s a great shooter and has a high IQ. He’s definitely a threat from the three and good knowledge as a ballplayer.”
Crews earned The Easley Progress Player of the Year honors for the second-straight year. He closed out his senior season – through a bunch of box-and-one defenses and double teams against him – with 20.3 points a game, 4.5 rebounds per game and 2.9 assists per game. He scored a total of 1,212 points in his varsity career with 42.5 percent accuracy from 3-point range and 84.9 percent from the charity stripe.
Also in attendance on Saturday and supporting Crews was EHS varsity coach Derrell Jackson, his coaching staff and a couple of his players.
Commenting on Crews, Coach Jackson said, “He (Crews) took it upon himself to create his own shots, get to the rim and get to the free-throw line more. There was a lot of maturity I saw in him from a junior to a senior – not just in scoring, but his basketball IQ got higher. He understood more in year two of what I was asking from him and I thought that elevated his game. Just to rebound more and to be a better screen setter because you set good screens and then you end up getting open.”
About the North-South All-Star Game: John Combs, the Director of the North-South Game, took some time to talk about it all.
“The North-South game is one of the oldest games in the country,” Combs said. “It is our 76th year of this event and has a proud tradition of some of the best basketball players in the state of South Carolina. Today is like the last official day of South Carolina basketball. Last night, we had over 850 people at our banquet to celebrate our North-South players. A great weekend to celebrate the year we had in South Carolina high school basketball.”
Rounding out the North team roster: RJ Hill (South Pointe), Bryson Taylor (Dutch Fork), Jaleel McGee (Powdersville), Tyrek Wright (McBee), Dontez Walker (JL Mann), Jamari Cullen (Byrnes), Jacarey Ballard (Lancaster), Roman Cooley (Greenville), Bryce Peterson (Andrew Jackson) and Nas Berry (Fort Mill).
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.