Manatee County girls win, boys lose All-Star game to Sarasota County

The Manatee County girls team beat Sarasota County 77-67, but the boys team lost 120-118 at the 2017 Sarasota-Manatee Boys and Girls All-Star Game at Sarasota High on Saturday. 

The games benefitted the Kyle Jutras Scholarship Foundation. 

The girls team went back and forth with Sarasota County for the first half before pulling away in the second. Lakewood Ranch's Aleah Robinson and Braden River's Bailee Steury were the East County area's representatives on Manatee County. Palmetto's Tina Stephens was named the game's most outstanding player. 

The boys game was almost the opposite. Manatee County held the lead for much of the game before Sarasota County made a late charge, with a steal and dunk from Booker's Eunique Arnold with under five seconds to go acting as an exclamation mark. Braden River's Deoni Cason and Curtis Cobb, and Lakewood Ranch's Devin Twenty, Justin Muscara and Blauvelt Georges representing Manatee County. The Out-of-Door Academy's Nate Patrick suited up for Sarasota County. 

Lakewood Ranch's Sam Hester also took the floor for Manatee County, in a sense. The injury he suffered in the Mustangs' final four loss to Sickles prevented him from fully taking part, but the two teams did let him take one three-pointer at the start of the second half (from the bench), which he made. The referees then briefly stopped the game to let Hester get an ovation from the crowd.