Mark Edmundsen of Arthur knew what was wrong. Five minutes into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class A All-Star Game Saturday night at the Peoria Civic Center, his team trailed 17-5.
”There was a lot of me and very little we going on out there,” he said. ”We just had to be patient, run our offense and not try to get everything back at one time.”
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The South, which narrowed the gap to 49-41 at halftime, got almost everything back at once in the second half, scoring 63 points to rout the North 104-90.
It was the fifth time in the last six meetings the small-school kids from southern Illinois have beaten their northern counterparts. The South now holds an 8-4 edge in the 12-year-old series.
Edmundsen, a 6-foot-7-inch forward who`s headed for Illinois Wesleyan, was 8 of 11 from the floor Saturday. He scored 18 points to lead both teams and was named his team`s Most Valuable Player.
Curiously, Edmundsen wasn`t on the court during the South`s second-half surge. Teutopolis` Bob Zerussen and Carlyle`s Phil Kunz each scored 4 points in the spree, which started with 12:26 left and the South leading 63-62. With 9:57 remaining, the South was ahead 76-62.
Lance Harris, Ohio`s 5-10 guard, was the only North player in double figures. He only scored 11 points but that was enough to earn him the North`s MVP award. Harris, who led Ohio to the Class A state title game in March, also had two steals and two assists but admitted he missed playing without teammate Brad Bickett, who missed the contest with a broken bone in his foot.
Next stop for Harris is Illinois Valley Junior College, where he hopes to learn the sport well enough ”so I can maybe be good enough to play for a Division I school one day.”
Monte Kuhnert of DuQuoin scored 13 points for the South.