Basketball

Collins shines in win against Blair County

By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

It's hard to know what to expect and what motivates certain players in all-star games, but from the tip of Thursday's 17th annual Altoona Mirror Basketball Classic at Penn State's Adler Arena, it was pretty clear what the game meant to Johnstown's Jahmir Collins.

He wanted to at least match his older brother Nyerre's MVP effort from last year.

Mission accomplished.

Jahmir Collins scored a Mirror Classic record 32 points, claimed another MVP trophy for the family and led his team to a 126-100 win -- something Nyerre didn't do as Blair County won last year's contest.

"I was out there having fun and really trying to go for my brother's record," Collins said. "He's been bragging about it. I knew I was going to get this. I feel like I outdid him, for sure."

Collins' Johnstown teammate Dion Dixon added 11 points and 12 rebounds.

"I'm going to have to say Jahmir had the better game," Johnstown coach Ryan Durham said. "He broke the scoring record, had a dunk and just had more electrifying plays compared to his brother."

Collins broke Dwayne Jones' 2019 record of 31 points. Jones, who plays at Penn State Altoona, also played for Johnstown in high school.

"I think they take it as a competition between the Johnstown guys playing this game," Durham said. "They see what other guys have done, and they want to match it. I expect Donte (Tisinger) to have a pretty good game next year too."

Blair County started off hot on a 7-0 run by going 4-for-4 from the foul line and on a 3-pointer by Bellwood-Antis senior Anthony Caracciolo.

Central PA responded with a 37-6 run that stretched into the second quarter and took any doubt away about the result of the game.

Blair County went on another run to start the second half when coach Brad Lear started his four Hollidaysburg players, Mason Goodman, Jake Hileman, Leyton Weimert and Cole Walters along with Altoona's Josh Corso.

"I thought about doing it to start, but I thought better of it," Lear said. "I figured I'd do it to start the second half and put Josh (Corso) in there too, because we have known Josh for a long time, and we played well. We did go on a little bit of a run, and then it turned into an all-star game where everyone let everyone do what they wanted."

Weimert finished with a team-high 17 points and was named Blair County MVP. Walters added 14 points, Hileman had 13 points and Goodman scored 11 points. Williamsburg's Rowan Gorsuch added 10 points.

"We have a talented group," Lear said. "Everybody scored, played and did what they do. Central PA is loaded, but I thought it was respectable."

Chestnut Ridge's Nate Whysong scored 18 points for Central PA, and Conemaugh Township's Jon Updyke added 16 points. Bishop Carroll's Luke Repko contributed 13 points.

Berlin Brothersvalley teammates Pace Prosser (12 points) and Craig Jarvis III (10 points) were the players who were most recently in a game. The Central PA duo fell to Imani Christian Academy in the PIAA Class 1A championship for the second straight year.

"The runs were really special," Prosser said. "I made a lot of memories with my teammates. It was nice to have Craig with me one last time on the court together. A couple of the other guys on the team, I have been playing with since third grade. It was fun to share the floor with them one last time."

Prosser's family is a major part of Berlin basketball. He's coached by his father, and his mother is the girls coach and led the team to a state title in 2019. His sister, Coral, is an all-star caliber player as a freshman on the girls team.

"I would hope we left our mark," Prosser said. "Three of the last four years making the state championship. We made some noise and made our mark as a small public school."

CENTRAL PA (126): Collins 16 0-0 32, Whysong 7 0-0 18, Updyke 6 0-0 16, Jarvis III 4 0-0 10, Brownlee 1 0-0 2, Repko 5 0-0 13, Speal 1 0-0 2, Prosser 5 0-0 12, Bracken 2 0-1 4, Dixon 4 3-4 11, Mattas 2 0-0 4, Crocco 1 0-0 2. Totals--54 3-5 126.

BLAIR COUNTY (100): Goodman 5 0-0 11, Caracciolo 4 0-0 11, Garver 3 0-0 7, Hileman 5 2-2 13, Walters 5 0-0 14, Crowell 4 0-0 8, Butler 1 0-0 2, Weimert 8 1-2 17, Ritchey 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 2-2 2, Corso 1 0-0 2, Gorsuch 5 0-2 10. Totals--42 5-6 100.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central PA 30 31 31 34 -- 126

Blair County 11 24 21 44 -- 100

3-point goals: Central PA 15 (Whysong 4, Updyke 4, Jarvis III 2, Repko 3, Prosser 2); Blair County 11 (Goodman, Caracciolo 3, Garver, Hileman, Walters 4, Butler)

Officials: Dave Heim, Damon Rickens, Jared Burkett