In a game that featured Mr. Basketball winners in their respective state, it was an under the radar guard out of Louisville that stole the show.
Kentucky rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to take down Ohio, 103-91 in the Kentucky-Ohio All-Star game played at Thomas More University on Saturday night.
With the fanfare that Travis Perry out of Lyon County and Colin White out of Ottawa Glandorf brought as Mr. Basketball winners, Seneca’s Quel’Ron House proved to be the best player on the floor in the contest.
The point guard got to wherever he wanted on the floor, hit a variety of pull-up jumpers and finished with 20 points on his way to MVP honors.
“A lot of great athletes out here, a lot of D-1 stars out here,” House said. “Just wanted to come out here and show myself with so many athletes out here.”
House hasn’t committed anywhere yet to play in college, citing issues with his transcript when he transferred from Ballard to Seneca and taking a COVID year for an extra year of eligibility. Once the dust settles and House becomes college eligible, imagine his phone will be ringing.
“Exposure, hopefully this event will bring some great exposure,” House said.
He even got an endorsement from Kentucky’s all-time leading scorer, Perry.
“Quel’Ron took over there. No one in the gym could have guarded him. He’s shifty, fast and that mid-range jumpshot is crazy,” Perry said.
Perry wasn’t too bad himself, finishing with 18 points and providing some pivotal points down the stretch. He scored 12 of his 18 in the second half as he prepares to head to the University of Kentucky fresh off a state championship in March with the Lyons.
“Regional championships are big for us, but bringing home the state championship has been a different animal,” Perry talking about all the fanfare over the last month. “It’s been a lot of fun. Something we’ve always dreamed of and better than we can even imagine.”
Kentucky’s leading scorer for the 2023-24 season, Max Green out of Oldham County, finished with 16 points in a variety of ways while Elizabethtown’s Ayden Evans provided some thunderous dunks and finished with 13 points to pace the Kentucky team.
Ohio got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 26-11 advantage less than 10 minutes into the game. House helped Kentucky stay within striking distance in the first half, providing eight points in a five-minute stretch to get the team in blue within six points. Ohio would take a 51-44 lead into the half.
They led 68-51 after a Max Dawson triple with 15 minutes and change remaining. Kentucky started their run when they were trailing 71-56, a 23-4 run capped off by a Perry triple to make it 79-75 with less than six minutes to play.
After leading 91-83, Ohio went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to two, but an Evans triple ignited a 12-2 Kentucky run to end the game.
Alex Bruskotter led Ohio with 18 points and took home MVP honors for the Ohio team. White added 13 points, Dawson with 12 for the team in red.
Ohio now leads the all-time series, 18-13.
The Kentucky-Ohio All-Star Game originated as an idea to help the Ronald McDonald House charity, by organizing an All-Star Basketball Game between senior boys and girls.
The game organized in 1991, with the first games being played between boys and girls occurring in April of 1992 at the James A. Rhodes Athletic Center on the campus of Shawnee State University in downtown Portsmouth, Ohio. The game has been played at Thomas More since 2002.
Teams are picked by a committee of people that have played a big part in organizing and strategizing the event over the years.
KENTUCKY ALL-STARS 103, OHIO ALL-STARS 91
OHIO — 51-40 — 91
KENTUCKY — 44-59 — 103
Scoring
OH — Brukstotter 18, White 13, Dawson 12, Shrout 10, Aekin 6, Kendall 6, Norris 5, Burris 5, Holden 5, Lovely 3, Copus 3, Tenning 3, Skoljac 2
KY — House 20, Perry 18, Green 16, Evans 13, Shoulders 8, Ritter 8, Allen 6, Moore 5, Doyle 4, Tucker 3, Dut 2