Boys basketball: Antwerp’s Landers to play in Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Game | Local Sports

Landers, who averaged nearly 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for the Archers en route to the school’s first-ever state tournament trip, will play on a roster with players across all four divisions of Ohio hoops in the event’s first action since 2019 after cancelations in 2020 and 2021.

Doors open for the game at 4 p.m. with the girls game tipping off at 5 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening. A Slam Jam Festival will be held Friday evening with a dunk contest, 3-point shootout and one-on-one and three-on-three contests. Admission is free for the event.

Landers is one of only a few northwest Ohio standouts to be selected for the game, following Crestview’s Javin Etzler (2019), Elida’s Reggie McAdams (2012) and Dakota Mathias (2014), Lima Senior’s Xavier Simpson (2016), Bowling Green’s Vitto Brown (2013), Anthony Wayne’s Mark Donnal (2013), Liberty-Benton’s Aaron Craft (2010) and twin brothers Eric and Tim Pollitz of Ottawa-Glandorf in 2004.

The boys team will be coached by Canal Winchester Harvest Prep head coach David Dennis with Waverly mentor Travis Robertson as assistant coach. The Ohio team is loaded with Division I prospects and senior state standouts, as 12 of the 15 players on the Ohio roster were all-Ohio honorees, including six first-teamers.

Future power conference players will suit up for Ohio in Centerville’s Tom House (Florida State commit), Cincinnati Moeller’s Evan Mahaffey (Penn State) along with future MAC players in Dublin Coffman’s Ajay Sheldon (Ohio), Gahanna Lincoln’s Javan Simmons (Toledo) and Covington Catholic forward Mitchell Rylee (Miami) for Kentucky. Kentucky’s 2022 Mr. Basketball winner, Turner Buttry of Bowling Green, will suit up for the Kentucky All-Stars.

The girls all-star game will feature a bevy of big names, including two-time Ohio Ms. Basketball KK Bransford, a Notre Dame commit from Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, and Ms. Basketball finalist Mari Russell of Reynoldsburg, who recently decommitted from West Virginia and is an Ohio State target.

Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year and McDonald’s All-American Chance Gray of Cincinnati Winton Woods, who is committed to Oregon, will also play for the Ohio team, along with Virginia Tech commit Maddie Vejsicky of Newark and Ohio State commit Mya Perry of Reynoldsburg.

The Kentucky girls team is plenty loaded as well, with 5-10 senior guard Amiya Jenkins of Anderson County High School, a University of Kentucky commit and the 2022 Kentucky Miss Basketball.

DIRECTIONS: TMU is located just across the Ohio-Kentucky border, in Crestview Hills, a 3-hour, 13-minute drive from Defiance. Those interested in attending can drive on I-75 South, keeping right to stay on I-75 entering Kentucky. Merge onto I-275 East via exit 185 for 1.6 miles before taking exit 82 KY-1303/Turkeyfoot Road for 0.7 miles. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for Hospital/Thomas More College and merge onto KY-1303/Turkeyfoot Road for 0.2 miles before using the left two lanes to turn left onto Thomas More Parkway.

Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Game

(Height, position, High school, 2022-23 college if committed)

Luke Denbow (6-1, guard, Ashland, West Liberty State); Bowen Hardman (6-3, guard, Cin. Princeton, Ohio State); Tom House (6-5, forward, Centerville, Florida State); Derrick James (5-10, guard, Canal Winchester, Ashland); Jagger Landers (6-7, forward, Antwerp, Findlay); Evan Mahaffey (6-6, forward, Cin. Moeller, Penn State); Brandon McLaughlin (6-8, center, Heath, Malone); Jacob Pleiman (6-5, forward, Botkins, Tiffin); Aiden Porter (6-0, guard, Proctorville Fairland, Rio Grande); Trey Robertson (5-10, guard, Waverly, ); Rich Rolf (6-7, forward, Centerville, unsigned, decommitted from Drexel); Louie Semona (6-8, forward, Cin. St. Xavier, Missouri-Kansas City offer); Ajay Sheldon (6-1, guard, Dublin Coffman, Ohio University); Javan Simmons (6-7, center, Gahanna Lincoln, Toledo); Logan Woods (6-4, guard, Fairfield, Wright State).