Iti and Terry play in Derby Festival Classic

This may make Charlotte and UNC Chapel Hill fans happy.

Rivals split MVP awards, U of L's Bush and UK's Alleyne dominate game
By Bob White, Special to The Louisville Courier-Journal

The University of Louisville and University of Kentucky came out even as far as Most Valuable Player awards went last night in Freedom Hall.

Michael Bush, Kentucky's Mr. Football from Male High School, scored 22 points and took MVP honors for the White in its 159-130 victory over the Purple in the Derek Anderson Derby Festival Basketball Classic All-Star Game.

The left-handed Bush, who hit 8 of 12 shots, including 3 of 4 three point attempts, is headed for U of L to play football, not basketball.

The 6-foot-3 Bush also had seven rebounds in an impressive performance.

Shagari Alleyne, the 7-2 center from Bronx, N.Y., who committed to UK last week, was the Purple's MVP after scoring 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots before a crowd of 8,233.

''I just tried to get the job done as well as I could,'' he said. ''Playing before 8,000 people was nice. I enjoyed the crowd. Not a bad atmosphere. I can get used to this.''

However, no player was more popular than 6-9 Mohamed Abukar of San Diego, who is considering U of L and UK along with Florida and Connecticut.

Abukar, who received a huge ovation in pregame introductions, made 4 of 7 three-point shots and scored 20 points.

He also excited the fans by winning the three-point and slam-dunk contests at halftime.

During the halftime festivites, U of L and UK fans kept yelling for Abukar, trying to outdo the other.

''I told Mohamed about the (UK) situation, but he must make that decision himself,'' Alleyne said.

''The support for basketball here is great,'' Abukar said. ''I'm not used to that. There were a lot of great players out here. I expect to hear more from a lot of these guys.

''It was a pretty exciting atmosphere for me to be a part of.''

Bush hit a couple of threes late in the game to snatch the White MVP award from 6-11 Martin Iti, a Charlotte-bound player from Sydney, Australia.

Iti hit 9 of 12 shots for 18 points and eight rebounds.

Bobby Perry, a 6-7 forward from Durham, N.C., who will attend UK, scored 17 points and hauled in seven rebounds for the Purple. He scored 10 points in the first half.

Perry was runner-up in the three point contest, making 12 threes to Abukar's 13.

UK's other recruit, Sheray Thomas of Montreal, had nine points but shot just 3 of 9.

Patrick Ewing Jr., a 6-8 forward from Atlanta who has committed to Indiana University, showed some outside shooting touch in his 11-point effort. The son of the former National Basketball Association star center is more of a long-range threat then his father was and swished 2 of 4 threepoint shots.

He also showed ball-handling ability, feeding Bush for a layup with a behind-the-back pass in the first half.

Brandon Jenkins, a 6-4 point guard from Detroit and the only U of L basketball recruit in the game, had 10 points and 11 assists. Two of his four baskets came late in the game.

Michael Nardi, a 6-2 point guard headed for Villanova, had 12 assists for the White, including seven in the first half.

Reyshawn Terry, a 6-8 forward who will play for North Carolina next season, led the White with 24 points.

Gary Forbes, an agile 6-6 forward going to Virginia, paced the Purple with 24 points.

Termed a project by some basketball experts, Alleyne showed in the first half he's hard to stop around the basket.

He scored 14 points, hitting 7 of 10 shots, mostly on putback dunks.

At his size, Alleyne dunks with no effort. His only goal of the second half came on a slam.

 

I'm impressed with what Iti did... I've known him to be more of a defender than a scorer... wasn't expecting numbers that good.

 

Nice game for both, but not sure what the competition was like? Does anybody have a link to the rosters or box score?

 

It was an all-star event. Just a notch below the talent of the McD's game.

The only context on it that is important is that the winning team scored 159 points & there were about 10 players with more than 15 points. So the scoring numbers are inflated. It was as much of a horse race as the event it's named after.

Both starting centers fouled out. Major Wingate was completely outplayed by Iti by all accounts.

I am very excited to see that Iti almost won the MVP award. The Louisville fans were raving about his performance. They also liked liked Marquette's Dwyane Wade replacement: 6'4 Dameon Mason.

Here are the rosters: Derek Anderson Kentucky Derby Basketball Classic

 

I forgot the box score:

PURPLE TEAM 130
Player min fg fga ft fta reb to a pf tp


Wingate 24 4 10 0 0 5 4 0 4 8



Mejia 21 3 6 0 0 5 3 2 0 6



Alleyne 27 8 11 0 0 9 2 0 2 16



Williams 22 2 8 1 2 2 5 9 0 7



L. Stewart 23 8 15 0 0 4 1 3 0 18



Thomas 22 3 9 3 6 8 2 1 1 9



Forbes 23 8 15 1 2 8 2 3 1 20



Minor 21 3 13 5 8 8 3 4 1 11



R. Stewart 18 6 10 0 0 2 0 3 1 12



Perry 19 8 13 1 2 7 1 2 3 17



Adkins 20 3 8 0 1 3 2 0 4 6



Team



Totals 240 56 118 11 21 61 25 27 17 130








WHITE TEAM 159
Player min fg fga ft fta reb to a pf tp


Abukar 25 8 13 0 0 3 1 1 1 20



Terry 23 10 15 3 3 4 3 2 3 24



Iti 23 9 12 0 2 8 3 1 5 18



Nardi 25 4 9 0 0 1 4 12 1 9



Mason 22 8 12 0 0 6 2 1 0 16



Jenkins 23 4 7 2 2 4 2 11 0 10



Billmeier 23 3 7 0 0 8 1 1 2 6



Ewing 21 4 10 1 3 5 1 3 1 11



Wallace 20 7 12 0 0 6 0 0 1 15



Richard 14 4 7 0 4 5 2 0 1 8



Bush 21 8 12 3 4 7 2 1 0 22



Team 1



Totals 240 69 116 9 18 58 21 33 15 159







PURPLE TEAM 29 45 32 24 --130


WHITE TEAM 40 47 26 46 --159







3-point goals -- Purple Team 7-31 (Forbes 3-9, L. Stewart 2-5, Williams 2-6, Minor 0-4, R. Stewart 0-3, Perry 0-1, Wingate 0-1, Mejia 0-1, Thomas 0-1); White Team 12-28 (Abukar 4-7, Bush 3-4, Ewing 2-4, Terry 12, Nardi 1-2, Wallace 1-4, Jenkins 0-1, Billmeier 0-1, Mason 0-3).

Shooting percentages -- Purple Team 47.5, White Team 59.5.

Steals -- Purple Team 10 (R. Stewart 4, Minor 2, Williams 2, Perry 1, L. Stewart 1), White Team 16 (Jenkins 4, Abukar 2, Terry 2, Nardi 2, Ewing 2, Bush 1, Wallace 1, Billmeier 1, Mason 1).

Blocked shots -- Purple Team 3 (Alleyne 2, Wingate 1), White Team 8 (Wallace 2, Iti 2, Richard 1, Ewing 1, Billmeier 1, Jenkins 1).

Attendance -- 8,233.

Game Story