ABILENE – Incoming Abilene Christian men's basketball players
Tyler Rogers and
Riley Payne were each invited to compete in the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star Game held earlier this week in San Antonio.
The game, which the South All-Stars won 124-93, was hosted by St. Mary's University and spotlighted some of the top high school players in Texas, including several NCAA Division I signees.
Rogers, a 6-3 shooting guard, was selected as an alternate for the North Team and made the most of his minutes as he poured in 10 points, two of which came on a fast-break flying slam dunk.
“I felt blessed to be in a situation where I can squeeze in and help these guys and play a little basketball,” said Rogers, a product of Lubbock Frenship HS. “I think their game plan when they saw me was to push the little kid around a bit. But it was a lot of fun being able to play with these guys. You've got to play tough if you're going to play with them.”
Payne was supposed to play for the North Team and his former head coach Tyler Helms one last time, but last week he suffered an injury that did not heal in time for the all-star game. Monday's absence marked the first time Payne missed a game during his high school career.
“Unfortunately, Riley was not able to compete despite how hard he tried to come out here play in this awesome event,” said Helms, who coached Payne at Idalou High School. “Riley is a tough kid and has played through numerous injuries throughout his career in both football and basketball. It's been an real privilege to coach Riley, and I look forward to watching him do great things at ACU.”
A state champion in football and basketball, Payne led Idalou to the Class 2A state championships this past season where the Wildcats lost to a White Oak team in the semifinals that featured ACU recruit
Caleb Carr. Payne averaged 18.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game as a senior in 2011-12, and was later named first team all-district, all-region and all-state.
While at Lubbock Frenship, Rogers led the Tigers to a District 3-4A championship and helped get them to the Region I-4A tournament. He also was named to the
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal all-City first team after averaging 16.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during his senior year.
