Long Beach was host to some of the nation’s top high school basketball athletes on Saturday at the annual Ballislife All-American Games at Long Beach City College’s Hall of Champions.
After hosting a 3 vs. 3 tournament on Friday, Saturday’s activities featured a 5 vs. 5, a best of five series between the top girls and boys, a three-point shootout and a slam dunk contest.
The event concluded in thrilling fashion as Dallas Washington, Long Beach State Signee, hit a three-pointer to give his team the win.
“It was a blessing to be invited to this game with all these great players,” Washington said. “Happy to be here, happy to be acknowledged. In my personal experience, it was a lot of years of being slept on throughout the country. But, I’m happy to be here and happy to be invited.”
Washington joins a Long Beach State team still building under coach Chris Acker, an opportunity he looks forward to.
“I’m excited,” Washington said. “We have a lot of building to this summer to prepare for the Big West but looking forward to making a big run.”
Going away from the traditional all-star game format, Ballislife featured a series play with each game won, earning points toward the series win.
On the girls’ side, fans were treated to some high-level basketball featuring several Gatorade state players of the year including Destiny Lunan (Arizona), Jaida Civil (Florida), Jaliya Davis (Kansas), Mia Pauldo (New Jersey), and Nyla Brooks (Virginia).
After the game it was local athlete Aliyahna Morris that earned MVP for the Black team while Brooks was MVP for the White team.
McKenzie Mathurin won the three-point shootout and Vieux Sanneh won the dunk contest with some electrifying dunks while utilizing his 50-inch vertical.
The boys’ side featured some competitive basketball with the Black team coming away with the win.
DeMarco Johnson (Oak Hill HS) won MVP for the black team while Hudson Greer was named MVP for the White team.
For Ballislife, it was the first All-American game they were able to host since 2023 and Ballislife CEO Matt Rodriguez was happy to bring it back to Long Beach.
“We’ve always like coming to Long Beach City College,” Rodriguez said. “We love having the lower section and it’s a really nice gym to me. This is my favorite place to do it every single time.”
