North’s Scoring Talent Is Too Much for East

IRVINE —  Before Sunday’s Orange County Senior All-Star boys’ basketball tournament game, North Coach Tom Gorrell was concerned about his team’s scoring ability.

It seemed he had too much of it.

However, Gorrell’s team showed its unselfishness as six players scored in double figures and the North claimed a 110-82 victory over the East at the Bren Center.

“These guys were very unselfish,” said Gorrell, who coaches at Cypress. “That’s the biggest concern when you have an all-star game. There’s a lot of good players and they all want to shoot, but these guys were really good about moving the ball around.”

Every player for the North averaged double figures in scoring during the regular season, including Josh Cameron, the county’s leading scorer from Southern California Christian, who averaged 29.3.

Katella forward LaByron Clayton led the North scoring attack Sunday, with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

Clayton, who was the Empire League’s most valuable player, demonstrated his soft shooting touch from outside and his powerful inside game with three dunks.

“He’s got Division I talent, there’s no doubt about that,” Gorrell said. “He’s very raw, but he’s just developing his skills more and more.”

El Dorado guard Dustin Miller added 18 points and Los Alamitos center Jeremy Vandervoet had 17 for the North.

The East, which was coached by Servite’s Scott Hamilton, did not match up well with the North’s size and scoring ability.

At 6 feet 6, Servite’s David Downs was the tallest player on the East team. Meanwhile, the North was able to counter with 6-9 Mike Pahl of Katella and 6-7 Vandervoet.

“There’s no doubt we just had an unfair advantage on talent,” Gorrell said.

The East was in trouble from the start as Vandervoet scored eight points in the first quarter giving the North a 24-14 lead.

The East cut the lead to eight at halftime, but a 35-point third quarter by the North gave it a 77-60 lead after three quarters.