All-Star Game Goes to Overtime; Ozer and Johnson Enjoy Experience

The best basketball players from around the South Bay converged Thursday night in the West Torrance High gym for the South Bay Athletic Club’s All-Star game.

Mira Costa senior forward Elliot Ozer and center Thomas Johnson were selected and played on opposing teams, with Johnson a member of the victorious blue team and Ozer competing for the red team.

In the first quarter, the Mustangs' dominant big man, Johnson, showed fans he has more in his arsenal than just thunderous dunks and put backs.

With 3:20 left in the first quarter, he went between the legs and shot a step-back three from the top of the arc to give the red team an 18-13 lead.

Johnson would nail another triple, again from straight on and to the delight of the fans, stretching the red lead to 25-16.

“It was fun to show what you can do," Johnson told Manhattan Beach Patch. "I worked on shooting during the offseason, so that was fun to show that I could actually make those.” 

As with most all-star games, spectators witnessed minimal defense and plenty of attempted alley-oop jams.

“It was a laid back game. Everyone was having fun and shooting a lot,” said Ozer.

“I mostly wanted a dunk. Everyone was going for them,” Johnson added.

Inglewood’s Rhon Mitchell set up Brandon Jawato of El Segundo beautifully for a slam in the second for the red team at 38-34.

 “That Rhon Mitchell, he was good. I had never seen him before,” Ozer said.

In the second half, El Segundo’s David Howard and Jawato sank back-to-back threes for the red team, which took a 67-58 advantage.

From there, Mitchell would rattle the rim with one of his several dunks for the night on his way to a team-best 23 points.

Ozer and Rashad Cobb of West Torrance fought back for the blue team with back-to-back threes to cut their deficit from ten to four at 75-71 in the third.

In the fourth quarter, North Torrance’s Darren Hechanova exploded for 12 of his 20 points on the night for the red team, regaining the lead they had watched slip away.

Julius Bilibrew of Inglewood went to work with just under three minutes to play, with a pair of treys, to pull the blue team to within two at 98-96. 

Billibrew was key to the blue team’s attack all night with a game-high 27 points.

Peninsula point guard Andrew Menard deferred for most of the night, but came up with two huge three pointers down the stretch for the blue team, with the second just beating the buzzer and tying the score at 109.

“It was a weird to go into overtime in an all-star game," Ozer told MB Patch. "That was definitely a crazy finish."

The red team would outscore blue 6-3 in a two-minute overtime session, winning 115-112.

“It was a good experience," said Johnson. "There were a lot of great players out there and we just had fun with it."

Ozer, who received All-CIF honors earlier this year, is undecided on whether he will choose to play basketball for a Division II or III school or potentially walk on at the University of San Diego where he would pursue a degree in business.

Johnson has interest from several schools, including Humboldt State and Chico State.