Trending
GALLIPOLIS -- Gary Harrison has never coached in an all-star game before, but the Gallia Academy head coach is looking forward the opportunity.
He'll lead the Ohio boys in this Friday's Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Classic at Rod Oldham Athletis Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
"It's exciting," Harrison said. "It's my first all-star game. I'd like to win.
"Most importantly, it's for a great cause. Anything we can do to help people and fight diseases is important."
The 2022-23 season was Harrison's 10th as head coach for the Blue Devils. He guided them to an 18-7 record and a sectional championship.
Three of their seniors -- Isaac Clary, Brody Fellure and Jance Lamber -- will be playing in the BACF game.
"It's awesome," Harrison said. "I hated the way our season ended, on a last-second shot. It's fun to get one more chance to coach them."
The Devils lost to Fairfield Union 40-37 in overtime of the Division II district semifinals.
That was the final high school basketball game for Clary, who is a Marshall football commit.
"He's been a great player for us," Harrison said of Clary, a 6-foot-8 post players. Local hoops fans may know Clary's name from when he put up 30 points in a win over Marietta this season at Sutton Gym.
"He can do it all down low. He can go right shoulder, left shoulder. You can't guard him with just one guy."
Clary averaged 20.2 points per game this season and a Division II Southeast District first team honoree.
Lambert (10.9 ppg) and Fellure (10.0 ppg) both were third team all-district selections.
"Brody had two games where he had triple-doubles this season," Harrison said. "He's got a good mid-range shot. He plays hard.
"Jance transferred to us from River Valley this year and was a good player for us. He's a 3-point shooter. He's got deep range."
There also will be three Federal Hocking players on the Ohio roster. Caden Chapman is a quick guard who can shoot and get to the basket. He averaged 13.1 points per game for the Lancers this year. Ward, another quick guard, also started for Federal Hocking while Iden Miller came off the bench. Miller did the dirty work in the paint for the Lancers.
The trio helped Federal Hocking win 21 games and a district title this season.
Washington County will be represented by Belpre's Tucker Liston and Frontier's Tice Curtis.
Liston is a 6-2 guard who was a first team all-district honoree after scoring 20 points per game this season.
Curtis is a 5-10 guard who can handle the ball and shoot it from anywhere on the court.
Caldwell's Tyce Devolld, River's River Thompson, Southern's Cruz Brinager and Jackson's Evan Jarvis will fill out the Buckeye State's roster.
"It looks like we've got a little bit of everything," Harrison said. "We've got some guards, we've got some shooters, we've got some size with Clary."
Though Harrison has never coached an all-star game before, he knows how he wants to approach it.
"You don't want to run too many plays," he said. "You want kids to be who they are. They want to showcase a little bit, and that's fine. We might put in a few quick-hitters, but it's hard to put in an offense in an hour and 40 minutes."
Harrison will be assisted by Jarred McClelland, who he's coached with at Gallia for the last seven seasons. They've won sectional titles in four of the past five seasons together.
"I talked to my staff and we're going to take these guys through a practice (Thursday)," Harrison said when asked how hard he'll push the players. "We'll take them through some drills. We're going to treat it kind of like a regular practice. Might as well get a little sore and get ready to play.
"I think it'll be an entertaining, interesting game. It's a challenge to bring 12 or 13 guys together in a day and try win a game because there's so many different styles and personalities, but that's what makes coaching fun. That's why you do it."