Aldridge, Pavlik to play again
Staff report
HOWLAND
On Monday, two of the Mahoning Valley’s most decorated athletes, LaBrae’s Peyton Aldridge and Lakeview’s Alli Pavlik, added Trumbull County Coaches Association Player of the Year honors to their lengthy list of achievements.
Today, they’ll have a chance to play against some of the Mahoning County’s best basketball players as part of this year’s Frank Bubba Classic.
The recently named POYs will team up with the rest of Trumbull County as the best boys and girls basketball players in the area compete in the annual all-star game at Howland High School.
Aldridge, who was this year’s Vindicator boys basketball athlete of the year, averaged 21.4 points and 14.4 rebounds per game for the Vikings. He’ll be joined by the area’s leading scorer, Liberty’s Asim Pleas (22.9 ppg), as well as Bristol’s Brandon Lee (19.7), Newton Fall’s Ozzie Hawkins (19.5) and Mineral Ridge’s Zac Hagy (17.4) — among others.
The Trumbull County girls squad also will have the top two scorers in the area with Pavlik (25.4) and Liberty’s Leah Leshnack (20.7).
Lakeview girls coach Adam Lewis will be in charge of the coaching duties while Maplewood’s Nathan Kish will coach the boys.
As for the Mahoning County girls roster, they’ll be led by The Vindicator girls basketball athlete of the year, Megan Sefcik (19.5). Two of the girls she’ll be joined by are her Falcons teammate Cassie Custer and Struthers’ McKenna Shives.
Some of the boys representing the county are Cardinal Mooney’s Joe Cunningham (15.9), Poland’s Jake Wolfe (12.2), Canfield’s Andrew Midgley (11.6) and Ursuline Paul Jackson and Giovanni Naples.
Coaching the Mahoning County boys team will be Austintown Fitch’s Brian Beany. Struthers’ John Grandy will coach the girls.
The girls game will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. That game will be immediately followed by a slam dunk contest prior to the boys game.
Participating in the slam dunk contest will be Aldridge, Pleas, Jackson, and Terrell McClain of East.
3-point shootout
At halftime of each of the Frank Bubba Classic all-star games, they will have a competition featuring the area’s best 3-point shooters. Seven of the eight shooters competing are from Trumbull County.
The shooters are (3-point percentage if available): Chris Miller, Champion;Michael Turner, Champion (31.5 percent); Kevin Jones, Maplewood; and Marc Kraml, Brookfield. The girls shooters are: Victoria Rappach, Howland (41.1 percent); McKenna Shives, Struthers; Emily Manion, Hubbard; and Antonella LaMonica, Warren JFK.