Highland's Griffin Albright leads the way for Light Team at boys Hoopla! game

BRUNSWICK — Griffin Albright had no idea how many points, rebounds and assists he had Wednesday night at "Hoopla!" Outside of points, the Highland point guard didn't expect anyone else to know, either, after his Light team beat the Dark 118-70 in the annual senior all-star game. An unsung hero all season for the Hornets, Albright finished with 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists to earn MVP honors. Brunswick's Brayden Hamilton edged Buckeye's Danny Flood 21-20 to win the 3-point contest. In the preliminary round, the two tallied 18 apiece to eliminate Highland's Aaron Filips (17) and Wadsworth's Maxx Bosley (14). "I had no clue," Albright said of his final numbers. "I was just playing to have fun. I didn't even know they were keeping track of rebounds and assists." On a night when the Light team (Brunswick, Buckeye, Highland) scored 70 points in the second half, the teams combined to go 29-for-77 on 3-pointers (.377), with the victors going 19-for-45 (.422). There also were eight dunks: three by Buckeye's Nick Miller (11 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists), two by Medina's Jajuan Jackson (10, 3, 2), including an alley-oop from Black River's Andon O'Neal (2 points, team highs of 5 rebounds, 3 assists), two by Brunswick's Thomas Krizsa (9, 5, 2) and a reverse by the Bees' Tre Hammond. "It was fun," said Hammond, who led the Dark team, which also consisted of players from Black River, Cloverleaf and Wadsworth, with 13 points and three 3-pointers. "It was nice to play with my teammates one more time and meet these other guys." The Light was led by Buckeye's Danny Flood, who had 19 points and hit a half-court shot at the buzzer for his fifth 3-pointer. Highland's Filips had 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, Brunswick's Cameron Cruz had 14 points, five boards and three assists, Buckeye's Nick Prochaska had 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting, seven boards and two assists, the Blue Devils' Randy Zimmerman had nine points on 4-for-7 shooting and the Hornets' Will Hoynes had five points and seven boards. The Dark got contributions from Wadsworth's Connor Sams (7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) and balanced scoring across the board from Cloverleaf's Dylan Pavlovicz (7), Philip Hamilton (7), Ashton Newton (6) and Blake Benko (6), with Medina's 6-foot-10 Stephen Mosack adding six points. The Light went 3-for-4 at the line, while the Dark did not attempt a free throw. "It was like an AAU game but more fun," said Prochaska, who provided one of the more entertaining moments of the night while battling a Dark player for a rebound that had hit the floor under Light's basket in the second quarter, eventually securing it and scoring his first two points of the game. "I was messing with the guy," he said. "I kept saying, 'I got it, I got it, I got, don't worry.'" Even with his team up 15 at halftime and by 29 after three periods, Filips played the only way he knows how: 100%. The small forward battled for every rebound well into the fourth quarter, often getting it and leading a one-man break. "It's hard to get away from it," he said with a smile. "I'm always competing. Plus, in a game like this, sometimes it's hard to get the ball if you don't get a rebound and take it coast to coast." On a night when all 22 players got into the scoring column, the unassuming Albright did the most in all categories. "He did all the dirty work for us all season breaking the press," Highland teammate Filips said. "No one else on our team could have done that. He's the reason the rest of us were able to get open, and it was the same thing tonight." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Light 118, Dark 70 Hoopla! All-Star Game DARK 13 20 19 18 — 70 LIGHT 19 29 33 37 — 118 Dark — Dylan Pavlovicz 3-7 0-0 7, Connor Sams 3-9 0-0 7, Stephen Mosack 3-5 0-0 6, Andon O'Neal 1-2 0-0 2, Jajuan Jackson 5-11 0-0 10, Logan Clifford 1-2 0-0 2, Philip Hamilton 3-7 0-0 7, Ashton Newton 2-8 0-0 6, Blake Benko 2-5 0-0 6, Bryce Beech 2-3 0-0 4, Tre Hammond 5-12 0-0 13. TOTALS: 30-71 0-0 70. Light — Nick Miller 5-7 0-0 11, Randy Zimmerman 4-6 0-0 9, Will Hoynes 2-2 1-2 5, Brayden Hamilton 3-9 0-0 7, Griffin Albright 5-8 0-0 12, Thomas Krizsa 4-7 0-0 9, Cameron Cruz 5-7 0-0 14, Dany Flood 7-13 0-0 19, Nick Prochaska 5-6 0-0 12, Aaron Filips 7-15 2-2 17, Adam Coss 1-6 0-0 3. TOTALS: 48-86 3-4 118. 3-point goals — Dark 10-32 (Hammond 3-7, Benko 2-3, Newton 2-5, Hamilton 1-3, Sams 1-4, Pavlovicz 1-5, Clifford 0-1, Jackson 0-4), Light 19-45 (Flood 5-12, Cruz 4-6, Albright 2-3, Prochaska 2-3, Zimmerman 1-1, Miller 1-3, Filips 1-4, Coss 1-4, Krizsa 1-4, Hamilton 1-5). Rebounds — Dark 25 (O'Neal 5), Light 57 (Filips 10). Assists — Dark 13 (O'Neal 3), Light 26 (Albright 6).