North-South All-Star game loaded with talent

Keenan’s Zach Norris and A.C. Flora’s Joshua Staley know they won’t have significant roles in Saturday’s North-South All-Star Basketball game.

Norris, the North coach, and Staley, the South coach, tried to implement a few things during the three practices they had leading up to the game at Lexington High, but doubt you will see much in the game.

“When the lights come on, all that we try to do is going to be thrown out the window. We can’t correct things in three practices, so let them have fun,” said Norris, who was inducted to the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame on Friday.

“I’m going to act like I’m coaching and making adjustments, but at the end of the day, it’s the kids having fun,” Staley said.

Both coaches have plenty of talent on their teams, featuring nine players from the Midlands. Brookland-Cayce’s Lloyd Hemming and Lexington’s Darius Bryant are among them and will be on the South team.

Hemming averaged 20 points a game and was named Class 3A Player of the Year in helping the Bearcats to their first Lower State championship game since 1962.

“Nobody really expected us to make it that far, so to make it there was really special,” Hemming said. “It’s honor for us. … It is going to be a lot of fun to play with all this talent.”

Bryant, along with teammate Caleb Shackleford, gets to play one more home game at Lexington. The all-state guard leaves with 1,650 points, second most in school history behind Shaq Roland.

Bryant was one of the best 3-pointer shooters in the state this season, hitting 127. He hit school-record 10 3-pointers against White Knoll on Feb. 12 and has connected from long distance 289 times in his career.

“Coach (Bailey) Harris left me in the fourth quarter to break the record. It was fun going out there hitting a bunch of shots,” Bryant said. “You’ve got to be mentally strong to be a shooter. I had a game this season in Florida and had two points and came back and had 35. It’s just mental.”

Both have yet to commit to play college basketball but are drawing interest. Hemming has offers from Benedict, Limestone and Lander and has visited Augusta University. Bryant has heard from Lincoln Memorial and Newberry, among others.

In addition to the boys and girls North-South games, the Carolinas Classic also will take place on Saturday at Socastee High. The game matches some of the top senior boys and girls from South Carolina against ones from North Carolina.

This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 9:44 PM with the headline "North-South All-Star game loaded with talent."