Prep All-Stars Will Try to Stand Tall Against Touring Soviet Juniors Today

The Anderson Alacs, the local AAU team in central Indiana, threw one of the most formidable high school basketball lineups in the country at the Soviet junior national team and were still pushed aside May 19. Jay Edwards, Lyndon Jones, Rick Fox, Jerome Harmon and Sean Kemp, the first four heading to three of the biggest college powerhouses and the latter one of the top juniors in America, lost by 17 points, 122-105.

A few nights earlier, Team Florida, with Livingston Chatman, David White and Chris Corchiani, was booed on two separate occasions by the hometown fans in Tallahassee for roughhouse play. No matter. They lost anyway, 87-81, after leading by 13 in the first half.

At least Alonzo Mourning, the outstanding junior from Virginia, was able to make a dent, with 17 points, 22 rebounds and 13 blocked shots. But beyond that, the May 13 game in Hampton, Va., also belonged to the visitors, who claimed a 71-62 victory despite having traveled 11 hours by plane and four more by bus the day before.

Teams all over the country have been lining up to take a shot at beating the Soviets, who are 5-2 on a 14-day, 9-city tour of the United States.

Tonight at 6 at Cerritos College, they take on Southern California’s finest.

Southern California will be represented by LeRon Ellis (Santa Ana Mater Dei), Sean Higgins (Fairfax), David Whitmore (Playa del Rey St. Bernard), Mark Georgeson (Huntington Beach Marina) and Jason Matthews (Santa Monica St. Monica). Also on the team are Ronnie Coleman (Compton Dominguez), J.D. Green (Fairfax), Sean Rooks (Fontana), Kevin Franklin (Woodland Hills Taft) and Tank Collins (Pomona).

The Soviets have a starting lineup that averages 6-foot 8-inches and sometimes opens with three players at 6-10: Igor Pinchuk, Georgy Rezsov and Dmitry Minaev. It has two 6-4 guards, Sergy Babkov and Gundars Vetra.