Mt. Vernon’s Julien Smith goes up to score during a game against county rival New Palestine.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The list of Hancock County basketball standouts, both players and coaches, to be invited to play in postseason all-star games, and series, continues to grow.
Recently, Mt. Vernon sophomore guards Luke Ertel and Julien Smith were selected to the South squad for the Indiana boys All-Star “Futures Game” to be played Monday, June 3 at Hamilton Southeastern High School.
Mt. Vernon is one of only three schools to have multiple selections for the game, joining Fishers and Lawrence North. Twenty-four players from across the state were chosen for the second-year event.
Last year, Greenfield-Central’s Braylon Mullins and Mt. Vernon’s Ellery Minch were selected for the game.
Along with Ertel and Smith on the South team, New Palestine boys basketball head coach Trent Whitaker was named the coach for the North All-Stars.
Ertel and Smith will team with 10 others on the South Team. Completing that squad are freshman J.J. Craig of Warren Central, sophomore Kasen Daeger of Silver Creek, sophomore DeZhon Hall of Pike, sophomore Evan Harrell of Carmel, sophomore Edward Hazelett III of Franklin Central, sophomore James Kalala of Southport, freshman Jaylan Mitchell of Evansville Reitz, sophomore Blake Neill of Bloomfield, sophomore Treigh Schelsky of Parke Heritage and sophomore Eli Sego of Triton Central.
Whitaker will coach a North team that includes, freshmen Jason Gardner Jr. and Cooper Zachary of Fishers as well as sophomores Kai McGrew and Brennan Miller of Lawrence North. Those four will be joined by sophomore Camden Bell of Wapahani, sophomore Justin Curry II of Noblesville, sophomore Terrence Hayes Jr. of Gary 21st Century, sophomore Reginald Hinton of Gary West, freshman Elijah King of South Bend Saint Joseph, sophomore Steven Reynolds III of South Bend Washington, sophomore Ethan Roseman of Indianapolis Bishop Chatard and sophomore Dikembe Shaw of Crown Point on the North squad.
Brent Dalrymple of North Daviess is head coach for the South Team. He will be assisted by Paul Ferguson of Columbus North.
The Futures Games, one each for boys and girls, are a second-year part of the Indiana All-Star basketball program. The Futures Games will pair teams of current Indiana freshmen and sophomores in a North-South format — last year it included all underclassmen.
In March, Eastern Hancock freshman Kenzie Koch was selected to play in the girls’ game. She will play for the South Team.
Hancock County players and coaches will be featured throughout the week of all-star games leading up to the annual Indiana-Kentucky All-Star series.
It begins with the Indiana Juniors vs. Kentucky Juniors games at Scottsburg on Sunday, June 2.
Both Mullins and New Palestine’s Julius Gizzi will be part of the 12-member Indiana boys team that will play following the 2 p.m. girls game.
Mt. Vernon’s Ertel and Smith, Eastern Hancock’s Koch and New Pal’s Whitaker will be part of the Futures Games on June 3 at HSE. The girls game begins the doubleheader at 6 p.m.
On June 5, at Kokomo the Junior-Senior All-Star games will take place. Minch, who has signed to play at DePaul University, is part of the Indiana Girls Senior All-Star team that will play in the 6 p.m. game. Mullins, a member of the core Junior group of six, will play against the Indiana Senior All-Star team.
The Indiana-Kentucky All-Stars series is June 7-8. On June 7, the all-stars will play at Lexington Catholic High School in Lexington, Ky. On Saturday, June 8, the stars face off at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Minch will be in both of those games. Games in Kentucky begin at 5:30 p.m. The games in Indiana are scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
More prestigious all-star games take place this Saturday in Knightstown. The 19th Annual Hoosier Gym Classic All-Star Game features a number of senior girls and boys all-stars from throughout the state. They will play, like in the movie “Hoosiers” for either Terhune or the Hickory Huskers. The girls game is scheduled to start at noon with the boys to follow.
Minch is slated to play in the girls game and Eastern Hancock’s Shari Doud will be one of the coaches.
It will be Doud’s final game as a head coach, as she recently retired from coaching at Eastern Hancock.
It is the second straight year Hancock County has had coaches and players in the Hoosier Gym Classic. Greenfield-Central’s boys basketball coach Luke Meredith coached a team that included Greenfield-Central’s Dylan Moles (Marian) and New Palestine’s Ian Stephens (Indiana). New Palestine’s Isabella Gizzi (St. Francis) played in the girls game.
