All-American Ryan Bruns scores a game-high 19, grabs 8 rebounds to lead West All-Stars to 104-101 victory at NABC Reece's Division III All-Star Game
By Tim Glon
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Ohio Northern senior All-American Ryan Bruns (Chickasaw/Marion Local) scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the West All-Stars to a 104-101 victory over the East All-Stars at the NABC Reece's Division III All-Star Game on Saturday afternoon at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Bruns was 7-of-15 from the floor and an impressive 4-for-8 from 3-point range to share game-high scoring honors with teammate Nolan Ebel of Augustana (Ill.)
Legendary ONU basketball coaches Joe Campoli and Gale Daugherty were the honorary coaches for the West All-Stars, nicknamed Team Campoli on the scoreboard.
"I had a blast," Bruns said. "My two biggest goals were to win the game and get a dunk, and I got both of those done. The guys were great to play with and it was really fun to have Coach Campoli and Coach Daugherty on the bench."
This marked the second time that Campoli and Daugherty were on the sidelines for the Division III All-Star Game. The two men switched roles in the 2012 game in Salem, Va., with Daugherty serving as head coach and Campoli the assistant.
"It was great to coach one more game and it was even better to have Gale there with me," Campoli said. "This was the first game I ever coached that I didn't have butterflies before tip-off. The kids that played in the game were great and it was a lot of fun for sure."
The game was played prior to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship game between Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Swarthmore (Pa.) on Saturday evening.
The West led 56-41 at halftime and expanded that lead to 61-41 on a Bruns layup and a Bruns 3-pointer just 1:12 into the second half.
The East whittled away at the lead, but the West would not trail the rest of the way, hanging on for the 3-point win.
Ty Nichols of Keene State (N.H.) led the East with 18 points.
Bruns was the second Polar Bear player to compete in the game, as All-American Kyle Meyer played in the 2010 game in Salem.
