The McDonald's All-American Game exceeded expectations to begin a busy week of basketball in Houston as the East team escaped with a 109-106 come-from-behind victory over the West, paced by 19 second half points from five-star Kentucky signee
D.J. Wagner of
Camden (N.J.).
Unsigned senior
Bronny James of
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) knocked down five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points in the loss.
Bronny James knocked down five 3-pointers to finish with 15 points as the West fell 109-106 in the McDonald's All American Game in Houston on Tuesday. (Photo: Louis Lopez)
After James knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the night to extend the West lead
to 96-87 with just under six minutes remaining in the game, Auburn signee
Aden Holloway of
Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.) knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Wagner followed up with his own triple from the left corner before turning a steal
into a layup at the other end to cut the deficit to 96-95 with 4:51
remaining in the contest.
A Collier layup pushed the lead to 98-95 before
Aaron Bradshaw of Camden converted on 2-of-3
free throws on the other end. After turnovers from both teams, a fast break dunk from Kansas signee
Elmarko Jackson of
South Kent (Conn.) gave the East its first lead of the game at 99-98 with 3:40 remaining.
A pair of Bradshaw free throws put the East up 101-99, but Collier responded on the other end with a 3-pointer from the right
corner.
After
Wagner converted a layup to give the East a 105-103 lead, James knocked
down his fifth 3-pointer of the game to give the West a 106-105 lead
with 1:21 remaining.
Wagner then slammed the door by slamming home a
transition dunk to give the East a 107-106 lead with just over 30
seconds remaining before knocking down a pair of free throws.
Five-star Kentucky signee D.J. Wagner scored all 19 of his points in the second half to spark the East to a 109-106 win over the West in the McDonald's All American Game on Tuesday in Houston. (Photo: Lonnie Webb)
A deep 3-pointer from Duke signee
Jared McCain of
Centennial (Corona, Calif.) rimmed off in the final seconds.
After losing in the scrimmage the day prior, the West brought the energy early in the contest, jumping out to a 10-1 start after McCain converted a layup just over two minutes into the all star showdown.
After a pair of 3-pointers from James extended the West lead to 28-12, the East closed out the first quarter on a 14-6 run, sparked by 10 points in the final four minutes from Holloway, including a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to make things 34-26.
Following James' third 3-pointer of the night to extend the lead to 40-30, the East went on an 8-2 spurt to cut the deficit to four points three minutes into the second quarter.
Oregon signee
Kwame Evans of
Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) converted an and-one to cut the West lead down to 49-46 with 3:33 remaining in the first half, but the West closed out the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 60-51 lead into halftime.
Wagner had a quiet start to the night, scoring his first basket of the game on a deep 3-pointer mid-way through the third quarter to cut the West lead down to 76-68.
