Josiah Turner wins all-star game with layup

Quality Education Academy (Winston-Salem) guard Josiah Turner hit a layup at the buzzer to lift the South team to a 93-91 victory over the North team at the inaugural All-American Championship game Sunday in Houston, the site of the NCAA tournament final.

Turner, a resident of Sacramento, Calif., who is headed to Arizona, finished with 13 points, seven assists and six steals in the win. QEA teammate Sir'Dominic Pointer, a forward from Fraser, Mich., who is headed to St. John's, added 18 points for the South team.

Quality Education Academy won its third straight National Christian School Athletic Association title last month, allowed just four first-quarter points en route to a 55-48 win over La Lumiere (LaPorte, Ind.).

NORTH CAROLINA PLAYERS STAR IN McDONALD'S GAME
Playing in front of a McDonald's-record crowd of 20,019 Wednesday night in Chicago, P.J. Hairston scored 15 points in just 14 minutes as his East Team beat the West Team 111-96.. The UNC-bound senior, who played at Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.), added three assists and two steals, plus no turnovers, which is no small feat at an all-star game.



Hairston was also joined by Christ School (Adren) senior Marshall Plumlee, who had eight rebounds (three offensive) in 18 minutes. While Hairston moved out of N.C. to play, Plumlee moved in. The Indiana native now lists Asheville as his home town and has played his entire high school career at Christ School (Arden).

Both players will be back in the Tar Heel state next year — Plumlee will join his two older brothers at Duke.

Butler (Matthews) senior Cierra Burdick represented the state in the McDonald's girls game. The two-time state player of the year started at forward for the victorious East team and played 18 minutes. She recorded eight rebounds — the second-most of any player — and had seven points on 3-for-5 shooting.

SOUTH BEATS NORTH IN CAROLINAS CLASSIC
A little closer to home, North Carolina was swept by its southern neighbor in the Carolina All-Star Basketball Classic boys and girls games at Myrtle Beach.

The North Carolina boys couldn't stop South Carolina-bound Damien Lennon, who had a tournament-record 35 points and hit the winning 3-pointer with four seconds left.

Six-foot-11 forward John Cannon of Mountain Heritage (Burnsville) posted a team-high 12 rebounds (seven offensive) to earn North Carolina's MVP honor in the 87-84 loss. Florida State-bound Terry Whisnant of Cherryville had 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting and College of Charleston-bound Anthony Stitt of Butler (Mathews) had team highs of three assists and three steals to go along with 10 points.



In the girls game, Danielle Butts shot 8-for-9 from the foul line and finished with a game-high 15 points for N.C. in a 64-52 loss. Butts won the 3A title at South Central (Winterville) this season and is headed to UNC. Fayetteville State-bound Bria Robinson (four blocks) of South Point (Belmont) and Elon-bound Samantha Coffer (three assists) of Northern Guilford (Greensboro) tied for the team high with six rebounds.

Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at haroldgutmann@gmail.com.