Fay-West All-Star Classic Friday
The stars will shine Friday night at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. The campus will host the inaugural Fay-West All-Star Classic, a match-up of Fayette County’s best graduating senior basketball players against a similar team from Westmoreland County. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. and the game will be preceded by a series of skills competitions beginning at 6 p.m.
Roaring Lions men’s basketball coach Budd Grebb said he often wondered why such an event hadn’t been held in the past.
“They’ve had a Washington-Greene County All-Star game since 1983,” said Grebb, former coach at Washington County’s California High School. “I figured why not get something going over here? I was surprised that an event like this hadn’t been held around here in the past.
“Basketball is more of a hotbed here than it is over there, with Uniontown and all of the great players and coaches they’ve had and Norwin in Westmoreland County, with the likes of Big John Naponic.”
There was a similar event held about a decade ago at Southmoreland High School, according to the two men chosen to coach in this year’s event. Geibel Catholic’s Ken Misiak, who has been coaching for 46 years, and Latrobe’s Brad Wetzel, who coached at Mount Pleasant before moving to his alma mater, both remembered that game. Both, too, are anxious to be a part of this rebirth.
“I think it’s wonderful for Penn State to open up this beautiful new gym for our kids,” Misiak said. “I’ve had a chance to coach a few games here and I really love the place. But, as I told the kids, this game isn’t about the coaches, it’s about the players. All I’m going to try to do is split up the playing time evenly and let them have some fun.”
Wetzel said he became involved when Greensburg Salem coach Paul Sapotichne backed out due to a prior commitment.
“Budd had called me about helping Paul coach the team,” Wetzel said. “When Paul couldn’t do it, I was happy to be able to do it. I hope this game becomes an annual thing. I think it’s great for basketball, great for these kids and great for the area. Our section (Section 1-AAAA) became kind of a Fay-West section again this year, with Connellsville, Uniontown and Albert Gallatin coming in, so this game is a natural from our perspective.”
The Fayette County roster is full of players familiar to basketball fans. Section 1-AAAA co-champs Albert Gallatin and Uniontown have five players on the squad in Uniontown’s Kishaun Cook, Stephen Jones and Zack Sawka and Albert Gallatin’s T.J. Hall and Jarrod Lint. Connellsville coach Nick Bosnic will assist Misiak and Falcon Jeremy King is on the roster.
Laurel Highlands is represented by Dan Stefancin and Tyler Foreman, while Scott Fraley and Kevin Garbutt represent Brownsville. Three Frazier players – Ryan Keebler, Steve Erdely and Wayne Lonce are on the roster, as is Geibel Catholic’s Rob Ramsey.
The Westmoreland County roster may improve by Friday night’s tip-off, but that would be bad news for the players who would be added. Jeannette High School may send a few players if the Jayhawks are eliminated from the PIAA Class AA playoffs. Jeannette played Union City at Slippery Rock last night. Jordan Thomas and Don Binda may play Friday if the Jayhawks are eliminated. Also, Yough’s elimination from the PIAA Class AAA playoffs may bring a few Cougars into the Westmoreland County fold.
Those committed to the game include Belle Vernon’s Jarrod Podrosky, Greensburg Central Catholic’s Anthony Parisi and Rich Tiberio, Greensburg Salem’s Anthony Manley and Brennan Marion, Hempfield’s Adam DeMatteo, Latrobe’s Eric Mueseler (his uncle Don Mueseler is an assistant coach to Wetzel), Eric Strayer and Jeff Garcia, Norwin’s Jordan Medich and Penn-Trafford’s Dan Shusteric.
Of course, having this kind of talent in his gym is appealing to Grebb, as he works toward improving the Roaring Lions for next season.
“You get an idea, some positive input, of what’s in the area,” Grebb said. “Plus, it lets the kids see our facility.”
Prior to the game, a series of skills competitions will be held among players from both teams, as well as some of the better girls players from the area.
Festivities begin at 6 p.m. Plans for future end-of-season all-star games will include girls teams.
“We had to start somewhere,” Grebb said. “We wanted to gets this game off the ground, then plan to include the girls in the future. That’s how we approached the Eberly Classic, as well.”
Tickets for the game are available at the door.