Strutchen, Brown to lead West All-Stars in Classic
Fresh off a euphoric season that witnessed Niceville reach the state final four for the first time since 1966, Eagles’ boys basketball coach Jerome Strutchen has been tabbed by the Daily News to lead the West boys in the sixth annual Freedom All-Star Classic.
Strutchen, who guided Niceville to a 27-4 record, will be joined by Paxton coach Jeff Bradley, who led the Bobcats to a 25-4 record and an appearance in the Region 1-A finals.
Meanwhile, the West girls’ team, which has won each of the last two Freedom All-Star Classics, will be led by Choctawhatchee coach Don Brown. In his fourth year with the Indians, Brown guided Choctaw to a 19-5 record. Niceville coach Babita Artabasy will join Brown as the West assistant coach.
The Classic is an annual East vs. West grudge match that has some of the top seniors from the Daily News’ coverage area of Okaloosa, Walton and north Santa Rosa Counties face off with their counterparts from the Panama City News Herald’s coverage area — Bay, Washington, Holmes, Gulf, Liberty, Calhoun, Franklin and Jackson counties — as selected by each paper’s sports staff and selected coaches.
This year’s Classic is set for April 3 at Gulf Coast Community College, with the girls set to tip off at 11 a.m. and the boys at 1 p.m.
Last year’s Classic saw the back-and-forth nature of the boys series continue as the East squad took a 100-89 decision to take a one-game lead in the overall standings, 3-2.
The girls’ game, however, was more of the same for the West. Eventual game MVP Lori Fletcher of Navarre scored a Classic-record 28 points as the West rolled to a 112-73 win. The West’s 112-point output set a girls and overall record for total points in the Classic’s history. In all, the West has won four of the five meetings between the two sides, a trend that Brown and Artabasy are each hopeful of continuing.
“I’m pretty excited to be able to coach,” Brown said. “I’m looking forward to coaching some good players that are in our area, I think it will be a challenge to go (to Gulf Coast) and play the group they have over there.”
“We want to showcase the talent that we have on the western part of the Panhandle,” Artabasy said. “I think there’s a lot of talent and these girls have worked hard.”
Strutchen and Bradley will look to even up a tightly contested boys’ series.
“It speaks to the talent pool,” Strutchen said. “Each year, so far, the newspapers and coaches have done a great job of picking the best talent from both sides. When you go to the game, you’re actually seeing the best talent from the area, so it should be a close game.”
Bradley, who like Strutchen will be making his first Classic appearance on the boys’ side, is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s an honor to be part of the all-star game,” Bradley said. “It’s something that doesn’t come along very often, but to have the opportunity to do that, you can’t afford to pass it up.”
