AAC Stars get a shot at the Big Time

Most Las Vegas teams participating in this year's Big Time Tournament were formed around the of basketball players' location or which high school they attend. But the Academics and Athletics Connection (AAC) Stars featured a unique mix of players from 11 different high schools throughout the valley.

Coached by James Wroten, who along with his brother Christopher started the nonprofit AAC in 1997 to help inner-city youth get on a path to higher education, the AAC Stars went a respectable 2-2 in the tournament in the B Division, gaining some valuable playing experience against some of the best prep talent in the nation while exposing some of their individual talents to college recruiters.

The AAC Stars defeated the Youth Interlock Society I (Pa.), 76-65, in pool play in the tournament opener on July 22 at Palo Verde High School. Guard Eric Taylor, a senior at Durango High School, led the team with 14 points.

On July 23, the AAC Stars were defeated by North Riverside Slam-n-Jam (Calif.), 71-53, but rebounded with a 69-65 win over the Spiece Northwest Stars (Ind.) later that evening at Palo Verde as Taylor exploded for 23 points.

In bracket play on July 24, the AAC Stars were eliminated from the tournament when the Fairfax Cougars (Va.) topped the locals, 73-58. Taylor again led the squad in scoring with 12 points.

Wroten was extremely pleased with his team's performance at the Big Time Tournament but felt at times the group could have played together better.

"At times they looked very well and at other times you could tell they were a group that was put together a month or so ago," he said.

Wroten's starting lineup for the Big Time included Taylor and Eldorado High School's Anton Coleman at guard, Del Sol's Terrence Stewart and Western's Andreu Johnson at forward and Valley's Stevenson Sylvester at center.

Wroten said despite playing against centers that were taller than him, Sylvester held his own.

"Steve played very well," Wroten said. "And for a center, at 6-foot-5-inches tall, he did great. Steve always plays against bigger guys."

Averaging 15.5 points per game while running the point for the AAC Stars was Durango's Taylor, who said he appreciated the chance to perform in such a prestigious event.

"It was a great experience," Taylor said. "I got to see a lot of talent. I got a lot of exposure and it was a great experience. I was very excited. Actually, I couldn't sleep the night before the tournament started."

The floor general was on top of his game at the Big Time.

"Once the tournament started, everything in my game started flowing ... my jump shots were working and I was going to the basket pretty aggressively and getting fouls and getting easy layups and making my mid-range (shots)," Taylor said.

Taylor said he and his teammates did a good job of getting into the flow of the game despite not having the same amount of team practice time as most of the other squads in the tourney.

"For a lot of us, it was the first time we played together in a tournament and I think we jelled pretty fast and we did pretty good for coming together to play that level of competition," he said. "We just worked hard and had to keep playing together because we were one of the smaller teams out there."

Besides the starting lineup, the AAC Stars also featured Shane Thoennes (A-Tech), Quincy Alexander (Del Sol), Jamaal Thompson (Palo Verde), Mychal Martinez (The Meadows), Marvin Humphrey (Centennial), Kevin Hansbrough (Cimarron-Memorial) and Jeff Leider (Cheyenne). The eclectic team featured players from all four high school 4A divisions around Las Vegas as well as a 2A player and a player whose school (A-Tech) doesn't even have a team.

In last year's Big Time, Wroten's AAC Stars won their pool, going a perfect 3-0 before losing, like this year, in their bracket opener.

Besides providing the players with a chance to play in a serious prep hoops tournament, Wroten also gave one of his assistants the chance to get some coaching experience at the Big Time.

"I actually had a chance to sit and watch and basically evaluate my kids as far as their skill level and everything," Wroten said. "I wanted to watch this year and I've been doing this so many years that I decided to let some of our other guys coach. Greg Hart actually coached our team. I sat behind the bench kind of like an assistant.

"Greg was the freshman coach at Desert Pines and I wanted to get him some coaching experience. Eventually I'd like to see Greg move on to maybe getting a college coaching job because he has the ability."

Wroten told of the simple goals of his AAC, which has now helped 32 of its members move on to college.

"Basically what we try to do is to get a lot of the inner-city kids who really don't have the financial means to participate in any organized or structured activities and try and reach out to them and use sports as a magnet to introduce them to higher education," Wroten said. "We try to take them in when they're in the second or third grade and try to establish some rules and regulations and just sort of guide them through school."

To find out more information on the AAC, log on to www.lvstars.com or call 373-6745.