McDonald’s All American & National Coach of Year
Highlight 25th Anniversary Collision All Star Games
Aundre Cummings, Ontario Christian High School
While working as a community relations manager Kenneth Miller (Founder) created Collision All Star Games at Warehouse Shoe Sale (WSS) Corporate office cubicle in 1999 as an event to convince the big three shoe companies Nike, Reebok and Adidas to allow for WSS to sell their products in their dozens of stores.
The first game played under the moniker Scholastic Hoops Jam featured elite underclassmen and seniors in three games held at Southwest College in front of overflow crowd as former NBA stars Michael Cooper and the late Orlando Woolridge coached the girls teams.
Miller left WSS after two years, the company kept the name Scholastic Hoops Jam and the event was renamed Collision, and has evolved into one the premier postseason basketball events in America for senior girls and boys basketball players representing the CIF Los Angeles City and CIF Southern Section, respectively.
The 25th Anniversary Collision All Star Games will be held on April 19th at St Bernard High School in Playa del Rey, as the Southland’s prep hoops showcase celebrating student athletes.
Etiwanda’s Aliyahna “Puff” Morris
Throughout the years, the event has served as the final high school game for collegiate, WNBA and NBA players including current NBAers Russell Westbrook of the Denver Nuggets and Spencer Dinwiddie of the Dallas Mavericks.
Collision All Stars will feature its second McDonald’s All American, the first girl in Etiwanda’s Aliyahna “Puff” Morris, and Ontario Christian’s Naismith National Coach of the Year Aundre Cummings will represent the girls Southern Section team.
Morris led Etiwanda to the Open Division State Championship and Cummings piloted Ontario Christian to the CIF-SS Open Division crown while leading the top ranked team in the nation.
Collision participants are separated by the section their school represents, and the Southern girls have been dominant winning 20 of the 24 installments.
They figure again to be a prohibitive favorite with an array of Division-1 college bound seniors, including Morris who is attending California Berkely; Rancho Christian’s Julia Wilson (Gonzaga);Devyn Kierman (Mater Dei/Utah);Amya Moody (Martin Luther King/Cal State Northridge); Jordin Blackmon (Bishop Montgomery/Rice University);Amaya Williams (Mater Die/Grand Canyon University);Leia Edwards (Sierra Canyon/Lehigh University); Ashley Redd (Sierra Canyon/Binghamton University); Shaena Brew (Etiwanda); Alanna Neale (Ontario Christian/Nebraska University) and standouts such as St. Monica Prep Academy Kimberly Macias and Ebbony Wilson of St. Mary Academy are also confirmed for the team.
Among the confirmed players for the boys Southern team are Dillan Shaw (Heritage Christian/Saint Mary’s College); Dallas Washington (Santa Margarita Catholic/Cal State Long Beach); Hudson Mayes (Redondo Union/Central Michigan); JJ Harris of Windward, South Pasadena’s Jack Madison, St. Bernard’s Josh Palmer, Harvard Westlake’s Isaiah Carrol; Brayden Miner (Redondo Union); Jonas Thurman (Chaminade); Chris Komin (St. John Bosco).
City Section confirmed participants include Sun Valley Poly D-1 Player of the Year JD Wyatt; Gardena’s Willie Denham; Ronald Merrill of Grant; Quian Khawaja (Poly); Kamari King (Cleveland); Gabaree Scott (Washington Prep).
The City girls confirmed include three stars from Open Division Champion Hamilton and two from runner-up Westchester. Representing Hamilton will be Kinidi Curl, Jade Fort and Micah Lemons; Reigne Waugh and Monroe Anderson (Westchester); Allyssa Ramirez (Pacific Palisades Charter); Birmingham’s Lili Martinez; Jada Barnes (Garfield). Each team will have 12 players.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Matt Sergeant, an alumnus of the event and Scholar Athlete will coach the Southern boys, while Hamilton’s Sherland Chensam and Sun Valley Poly’s Joe Wyatt will coach the City teams, respectively.
Former AB Miller High and Duke University player 2010 Collision MVP Chloe Wells and former Palisades High and Cal State Northridge player and the first boys MVP in 1999 Edward Estevan will be honored with the Jim Harrick Lifetime Achievement Award.
Chensam will receive the inaugural Barbara Fiege Humanitarian Award and a girl and boy will receive The Steve Lavin Family Scholar Athlete Award for the highest grade point average.
The girls game is scheduled for 3:30pm and the boys game 5:30pm. The event is sponsored by Our Global Humanity Inc. nonprofit and South Bay Black Journal and admission donations are accepted at the door only. For more information contact collisionallstars.com or (310) 924-7851.
