Traverse City Record-Eagle

Basketball

March 25, 2010

Starkey a Class B All-Stater

Northmen star shot 57 percent for the season

DETROIT (AP) -- Ray McCallum Sr. was hired as the head men's basketball coach at the University of Detroit Mercy in 2008.

He resigned as an assistant coach at Indiana University, made plans to move his family to Michigan and began searching for a high school for his son. The search ended at Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day, where Ray McCallum Jr. blossomed into a basketball star.

McCallum, the point guard for top-ranked Country Day, is the unanimous choice of an 11-member panel of sports writers as Associated Press Class B player of the year.

The 6-foot-1 McCallum averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists for Country Day (24-2), which meets Muskegon Heights in the Class B semifinals on Friday.

"Ray is one of the finest players that I have coached in my 30-plus years at Country Day," said Yellowjackets coach Kurt Keener.

Also named to the first team are Jullian Plummer of Muskegon Heights, Cory Starkey of Petoskey, Ladon Carnegie of Grand Rapids Union, Brandon Venturini of Allendale, Amir Williams of Country Day, Devin Long of Detroit Crockett, Derrick Davis of Bridgeport, Alex Gauna of Eaton Rapids and Flint Powers' DeMarco Sanders, Patrick O'Brien and Patrick Lucas-Perry.

Plummer continued the strong tradition at Muskegon Heights by averaging 15.7 points and 13.7 rebounds against a strong schedule.

Starkey, the son of Petoskey coach Dennis Starkey, hit 57 percent of his floor shots, averaged 20 points per game and was the go-to guy for the Northmen.

Carnegie is a junior who put up some big numbers as Grand Rapids Union won 20 games. He averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 68 percent from the floor.

Venturini is the highest-scoring member of the Class B team with a 28-point average. He was a four-year starter and also averaged 4.7 assists.

Williams is another junior who used his 6-10 height to average 14.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and seven blocks a game.

Long is a 6-7, 240-pounder who supplied 18 points and 14 rebounds a game for Detroit Crockett. He plans to continue his career at Cleveland State.

Davis is the epitome of a student-athlete. He scored a 30 on his ACT test and averaged 19.3 points and 7.2 rebounds for Bridgeport.

Gauna is 6-9 but can play inside or outside. He averaged 21.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and made 25 triples.

Sanders was the leading scorer for Flint Powers, averaging 19.1 points per game and had 39 3-pointers while shooting 42 percent from outside the arc.

O'Brien started for Powers in 2007-08 and 2008-09 when it reached the state championship game. He's scored more than 1,300 points in more than 100 games during a four-year career.

Lucas-Perry, a junior, showed a flair for the dramatic with a last-second basket to win a district game and big efforts against strong teams. He already has surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career.

Jim Kalbfleisch of New Boston Huron was chosen coach of the year.

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