South cruises to wins in Idaho All-Star games

The 10th annual Idaho All-Star boys and girls basketball games were lopsided Saturday afternoon.

A pair of schoolmates from the southeastern-most region of the state made sure the South were winners in both games at North Idaho College.

Clark Wilkinson of Highland scored 21 points to lead the South to a runaway 102-68 win in the boys game while Dakota Gonzalez, also of Highland, scored 13 points to ignite the South to a 91-61 rout in the girls game.

Boys

South 102, North 68: It was tightly contested for 20 minutes.

The South used a 16-5 surge at the end of the first half to take a 43-35 lead into halftime.

It was all South in the final 20 minutes.

Wilkinson, who plans to do a two-year mission with the LDS church following graduation, won the slam-dunk contest, then followed up with four dunks in the game.

“It’s really cool coming up and playing with the Gonzalez twins. It’s been cool growing up with them and being able to go to a statewide all-star game with them,” Wilkinson said. “It’s really cool to represent Highland and the city of Pocatello.”

The North couldn’t put up much resistance. It was outmatched in most positions.

Four other South players finished in double-figure scoring while no North player reached double digits. Matt Horne of Lakeland led the North with nine.

The South used a 9-2 run opening the second half to begin to easily pull away.

“It’s an amazing experience,” Wilkinson said. “NIC does a really good job putting this on. It’s run really well and you can tell they enjoy what they’re doing. It’s a great experience for all the kids. We just tried to get out and run and play athletically. We did that pretty well.”

Girls

South 91, North 61: The opening 20 minutes ended in a 29-29 deadlock.

Then the South started running in the second half, and the North was a step or two behind the final 20 minutes.

The South used an 11-0 run early in the second half to start to pull away.

Guards Dakota Gonzalez and her twin, Dylan, combined for 17 points. Both have signed to play at the University of Kansas.

Hallie Gennett of Post Falls led the North with 14 points and six rebounds. Caelyn Orlandi of Coeur d’Alene, who plans to sign this week with Lewis-Clark State College, had 11.

“It’s always fun to play with players you play against,” Gennett said. “But it’s hard, too, because you don’t play together. And only having one practice and no plays, it’s a little difficult.”

It didn’t help that the girls season has been over a month.

“We’re out of shape,” Gennett said. “They ran us a lot more and in the second half they shot really well.”