H.S. basketball: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame hosts Western Mass. Senior All-Star game

SPRINGFIELD — The music played, the lights shined and the images of NBA and WNBA legends surrounded the court during the Western Mass. Senior All-Star Game at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night.

Seniors from Hampshire and Franklin County along with all of Western Mass. amassed to play one more high school game before a standing room only crowd on the Jerry Colangelo Court of Dreams.

It was a loud, festive atmosphere throughout with a live DJ. There were dunks, deep 3-pointers and everything one could expect from the top talent in Western Mass.

In the Class C & D boys game, Karim Thompson of Athol played for Team Green in the early match up. Thompson played in the Hampshire-Franklin All-Star game last week at Smith Academy. The confines of the Basketball Hall of Fame hit a little different.

“It’s definitely a much bigger gym,” Thompson said. “They had a DJ and everything. It was a much different experience than a small high school gym. It’s definitely special to come here and play. It was a good thing to not end the season on a loss. Being at the Hall of Fame, it’s a really good experience to come here.”

Zavien Fernandez (Granby), Judah Glenn (Pioneer), Jackson Cogswell (Turners Falls) and Chace Earle (Hopkins) also played with Thompson in the early game.

In the Class A, B, C & D girls game Whitney Campbell of Frontier Regional returned to the Hall of Fame playing on Team Black for the first time since she was much younger.

“I had been here once when I was a little kid,” Campbell said. ” I didn’t really remember it but it was more than I was expecting almost. I didn’t really know a lot of people. It was overwhelming. But once I got into the flow of it, it was fun playing in here. Really cool.”

Campbell had a personal cheering section in the upper sections of the court area. Her teammates from Frontier gathered and got especially loud after Campbell splashed a 3-pointer late in the first half.

Also playing in the girls game was Samone Young (Easthampton), Kyler McClelland (Pioneer) and Hayden Comeau (Mahar).

Max Millette of Frontier played in the Class A & B game. He shared the floor with some serious heavy hitters in the region including Sam Brigham of Pope Francis and Tahir Bey of Springfield Central.

“I’ve played against basically all of them at some point in my career whether it’s high school or AAU,” Millette said. “It was great to play with the Amherst guys. This is what I look forward to once the season ended…it was a lot of fun.”

“When we walked in it was kind of crazy,” Millette said. “The lights were going. But yeah, I dreamed of a bunch of milestones, and this is one of them. I thought it was really cool to get here.”

Mitchell Carey of Amherst Regional also played with Millette. In the second half, Carey got hot from deep with multiple 3-pointers. Also from Hampshire County was Isiah James (South Hadley), Jake Pacunas of Belchertown, Sam Woodruff (Amherst) and Jordan King-Perilli (Holyoke).

In the late game, Team Black defeated Team White 109-98. Team White took down Team Black, 67-52, in the girls game. In the early game, Team White defeated Team Green, 112-87.

Brigham won the Western Mass. Player of the Year for the Cardinals. On the girls side, Emersynn Cage of Longmeadow won the award for the Lancers. The award recognizes excellence in performance, sportsmanship and character. Teams were selected by a committee of local coaches and media members.

60 players were recognized at the event.