Asheville High senior Damon Scott (3) was the MVP of Saturday night’s Blue-White All-Star boys basketball game at Enka.
CANDLER – Damon Scott had some delusions of grandeur after a few days of basketball practice with his Blue-White All-Star team.
“I didn’t think we were going to miss,” Scott said with a grin.
Scott wasn’t far off – the Asheville High senior led all scorers with 34 points Saturday night and the White connected on 22 shots from three-point range to beat the Blue boys, 139-133, at Enka.
Smoky Mountain’s Trey Tritt (27 points), Hayesville’s Braxton Cox (14), Tuscola’s Jordan Valentine (12) and Cherokee’s Jason McMillan (11) were other double-digit scorers for the White, which trailed by seven with exactly six minutes to go.
Scott was named the most valuable player of the 64th installment of the Blue-White boys game. He pointed out correctly that all 10 members of the White team made at least one 3-pointer.
The Blue countered with 18 treys as a team and were led by East Rutherford’s Brandon Bailey (28 points), Polk County’s Jamal Wheeler (24) and North Buncombe’s duo of Brennan Hockaday (19) and Brennan Howard (17).
“It felt great to be part of a team like this,” Scott said.
“It’s been a great four years and this was a great way to end things before I go to college. I’m confident that I’m going to play in college. (Asheville coach Sonita Warren-Dixon) has some schools lined up and I’m looking forward to finding out more about them.”
Scott is a 5-foot-10 guard who was the Mountain Athletic Conference Player of the Year this past season after averaging 20.0 points, 5.8 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 steals per game for the Cougars (16-8).
Hockaday was presented with a postgame award for leadership on Saturday.
The Blue-White games benefit children with developmental disabilities and are put on annually by the Rhododendron Civitan Club.
Enka’s Sam Olson (21).
Girls
White 103, Blue 54: Enka senior Sam Olson felt comfortable playing in her home gym and it showed.
Olson poured in a game-high 22 points and the White coasted to a 49-point win in the Blue-White girls game.
Jets teammate Taylor Clark and Robbinsville’s Erin Maennle added 14 points apiece. Cherokee’s Bree Stamper and Robbinsville’s Kinsley Orr had 11 points and Erwin’s Kendra Griffin and Pisgah’s Brooklyn Allen scored 10 each.
The White led 49-25 at halftime.
Olson was named the MVP and Griffin received a leadership award. Olson is a 5-5 guard who plans to attend N.C. State as an engineering student, which means Saturday was probably her last chance to play basketball in front of a big crowd.
“I’m going to miss it,” said Olson, who averaged 21.2 points this winter for the Sugar Jets (14-12).
“I’m sure I’ll play intramurals or something like that. It’d be a big hole in my life to not stay involved in the game somehow.”
Madison’s Kristin Davids netted a team-high 10 points for the Blue girls. North Buncombe’s Lauren Guthrie added nine points and Rosman’s Callie Chappell had eight.
Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of the Blue-White girls game.
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