The West defeated the East, 118-116, on Friday night in the 2015 Jordan Brand Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, putting an end to a busy month for some of the top high school players in the country.
Arizona commit Allonzo Trier led the West with a game-high 28 points. Cheick Diallo, one of the top uncommitted players remaining, had 26 points and 11 boards to lead the East. Both shared the MVP honors. Diallo was named MVP of the McDonald’s All-American Game earlier this month in Chicago.
Sandwiched in between the two MVP performances was a win at the Nike Hoop Summit last weekend for the native of Mali. The 6-foot-9 Diallo, his weekend is just beginning, as Evan Daniels of Scout reported that Diallo will have in-home visits with John Calipari, Bill Self and St. John’s new head coach Chris Mullin.
As for the game, it remained close throughout, however, it was still an all-star game, and the final minutes reflected that with players going for individual battles. Isaiah Briscoe, the Kentucky signee and local standout from New Jersey, had the crowd going with bucket after bucket for the East team, going one-on-one with LSU commit Antonio Blakeney for a sequence.
Briscoe ended with 22.
Jaylen Brown, Luke Kennard and Henry Ellenson all sat out. Ben Simmons, the future LSU Tiger and the nation’s No. 1 overall player, did not make the trip.