Rising Star League Culminates With Annual All-Star And Playoff Games

The co-ed Rising Star Summer Basketball League, directed by Newtown High School Coach John Quinn, culminated with the annual All-Star game and playoffs outside at Treadwell Park this past week. The All-Star game, held on August 26, featured top players as well as those who showed the most commitment and improvement during the course of the camp. The West won 80-78 in a thrilling battle. Taylor Steimle had 15 points and Pieter Martino had 12 for the winners. Stefanie Clavette, Meghan Condon, and Lydia Beiter played well for the West. The East was led by Kevin Leblanc with 12 points, and Pat Sullivan and Mike Scharfenberg contributed 10 points each. The All-Star rosters are as follows:

East All-Stars: Bubba LeBlanc, Kevin LeBlanc, Josh Barrett, Sean Elliott, Erin Kenning, Maddy Good, Pat Sullivan, Mike Daubert, Reed Schmidt, Jake Feinstein, Mason West, Matt Sharpe, Mike Scharfenberg, Francis Afriyie, and Chris Tenney. The team was coached by Mason West.

West All-Stars: Taylor Steimle, Jeff Hoffman, David Lucia, Meghan Condon, Gavin Scallon, Lydia Beiter, Pieter Martino, Alex Roche, Stefanie Clavette, Ryan Szalay, Kendall Svanda, John Kerins, Matt Rahtelli, Matt Wood, Patrick Ricciardi, and Stephen Grasso. The team was coached by Bob Elliot.

The league playoffs were held August 28 and 29. The highlights are as follows:

Game 1 — Duke 58, North Carolina 54: Reid Schmidt led Duke with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Sean Elliott added 16. Mike Daubert, Erin Kenning and Jake Feinstein played well for Duke. Taylor Steimle led North Carolina with 26 points, Pieter Martino had 19 and Jeff Hoffman played well in defeat.

Game 2 — Kansas 62, Memphis 54: Kansas received balanced scoring and Kevin LeBlanc led the way with 20, including six 3-pointers. His brother, Bubba LeBlanc, chipped in with 12, Erick Samuelson also had 12 and Angel Santos (the camp’s Most Improved Player) had 11. Colton Maroney played well for Kansas. Memphis was led by Pat Sullivan who had 20 points, Mike Scharfenberg (14 points) and Chris Tenney (9). Jamie MacDonald played well for Memphis.

Championship — Kansas 43, Duke 39: LeBlanc had 15 points and a 4-for-4 performance from the free throw line in the closing minute to seal the victory. Mason West had a big game for the winners with 13 points, and several key rebounds. Santos played great defense and Will Fletcher made some key plays for Kansas. Duke was led by Reid Schmidt with 11 points. Daubert had seven points, and Collin Moeller, Patrick Berger, and Joe Davis played well for Duke.