SHAC Senior All-Star Basketball Game Set for North Adams High School Saturday

For 41 years, the final buzzer of the Adams County basketball season has sounded not at a tournament site but inside North Adams High School in Seaman, where the best graduating players from across the Southern Hills Athletic Conference gather one last time under the same roof. The Southern Hills Athletic Conference boys senior basketball all-star game is set for Saturday at 6 p.m. at North Adams High School. The girls game tips off first, with the boys to follow.

For the 41st consecutive time, the local high school basketball season comes to a close with the annual C103 Senior All Star Game, hosted by North Adams High School, an evening that highlights senior basketball players and cheerleaders of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, giving them a final opportunity to showcase their talents before a packed house of fans, family, and friends.

This year's rosters span every corner of the conference. Lynchburg-Clay's Caden Boone, Elam Faust, and Rhalstan Greene will play for the Red Team All-Stars, while Fairfield's Quentin McIntosh and Zachary Ahsaruk are also members of the Red Team squad. Denver Clinton of Lynchburg-Clay suits up for the White Team, which will be coached by Fayetteville head coach Joe B. Stewart and North Adams' Austin McCormick. Whiteoak's Sawyer Blair plays for the White Team All-Stars while Brady Brandenburg plays for the Red Team All-Stars, who are coached by Eastern's Rob Beucler, Josh Arey of Peebles, and Raymond Friend of Fairfield.

The competition goes beyond the games themselves. This year's All-Star event will feature the Hot Shot Shooting Contest and the popular Slam Dunk Contest, which is open to anyone in the SHAC, not just seniors. The dunk contest has produced some of the night's most memorable moments over the years, including Lynchburg-Clay's Eric McLaughlin winning the 2018 edition with a windmill dunk, an alley-oop off the backboard, and a soaring two-handed, double slam.

The financial stakes are real, too. There will be a Split the Pot, and all of the proceeds go toward funding the awarding of the C103 Scholarships, which the radio station has distributed to deserving senior athletes throughout the event's four-decade run. Once again, the profits of the evening will go toward ten $1,000 scholarships, with recipients announced on the night of the game.

For seniors eyeing a college career, the game carries weight that extends past the final whistle. The all-star setting draws small-college coaches who otherwise would never make the trip to rural Adams County, making tonight's gym floor a genuine recruiting stage for players from Peebles, Manchester, West Union, and every other school in the conference. North Adams' own Breestin Schweickart used last year's Slam Dunk Contest for precisely that kind of visibility, soaring toward the rim using teammate Jayce Rothwell as a prop.

For the 41st consecutive year, the local high school basketball seasons will end in the same fashion: a full gym in Seaman, a Split-the-Pot line out the door, and a senior class finding out whether ten of their own will walk away with a check that helps pay for the next chapter.