TAMPA — As is the case in pretty much every all-star basketball game, there wasn't much defense played by Hillsborough County's top seniors Thursday. But for about a five-minute span West coach Eric Hayes decided to put on a half-court trap.
The ploy worked perfectly. The West turned what had been a back-and-forth, freewheeling affair into a comfortable 108-95 victory in the Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association contest at Tampa Prep. Leto's David Jones was MVP with 25 points.
"They won the three-point contest, they won the dunk contest, so after that I told the guys, we're going to win the game," said Hayes, the head coach at Jefferson.
The West led 56-51 at half but the East had the lead within two minutes, then at 78-74 West the trap was put in effect. It resulted in several turnovers, and when Alonso's Terance Brown scored on a steal and dunk it was 92-77 with eight minutes remaining.
Chamberlain's Naija Chandler had a nasty slam on another steal soon after, and Steinbrenner's Tyler Carter put the West at the century mark with 4:32 still left.
Sheldon Odunna, who led Freedom High through a dramatic playoff stretch, was the East MVP with 23 points, scoring 16 in the second half. Freedom teammate Nasire Core was second with 15 points.
Jones, who averaged 21 points for a six-win Falcons team, has not committed to a college but his performance Thursday could not have hurt. He had 11 of his points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half; college timing rules were employed. Brown added 21 for the winners with Chandler scoring 12, Jawaun Stuckey (Alonso) and Carter 11 each.
Oklahoma State commit Thomas Dziagwa (Tampa Catholic) scored 14 points but was held down after hitting three 3-pointers in the game's first 3:30.
Dziagwa won the 3-point contest held at the half.
The East tried 28 from long range in the first half, making nine, and ended up going 13-for-42. The East missed 11 of 12 during the game-deciding stretch.
Brooks-DeBartolo's Aikeem Sims won the dunk contest, beating Tampa Prep's Tyson Ward in the final. Ward scored 12 points for the East with Newsome's Brendan Miller adding 10.