West's Aaron Gordon named MVP

Updated: April 4, 2013, 4:05 AM ET
Associated Press

CHICAGO -- The anticipated showdown between Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggins became a sidebar to Aaron Gordon's big night at the McDonald's All-American game.

Gordon, committed to play at Arizona, collected 24 points and eight rebounds to lead the West to a 110-99 victory over the East on Wednesday night.

In a game that featured an array of dunks, Gordon pleased the United Center crowd of 15,818 with a number of fast-break slams on his way to the MVP award.

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"It was really great. I've been watching all the players come up through the McDonald's All-American game and to finally get here and go through the process of it all," Gordon said. "Each practice, each shootaround, just the scrimmaging, it means a lot. I can come out here and compete with all the best players."

Wiggins, considered the top recruit in the country, scored 19 points for the East and Dakari Johnson finished with 12.

The game featured six Kentucky commits: Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Johnson, Marcus Lee and Julius Randle, who verbally committed a few weeks ago.

Wiggins, who is undecided, is considering Kentucky, along with Kansas, North Carolina and Florida State. A commitment from the Canadian prep star would give Kentucky coach John Calipari one of the best recruiting classes of all time.

Arkansas recruit Bobby Portis Jr. had 12 points for the West.

Gordon put the West up 74-54 on a reverse dunk to finish a break with 14:05 left. The East got the lead down to 89-80 on Keith Frazier's dunk and a pair of free throws. Then Johnson got it to 94-90 with 4:40 left, but Gordon answered with another dunk for the West. He got the crowd on their feet with an alley-oop slam to put the West up 106-91.

Gordon announced on Tuesday that he will attend Arizona next fall.

Parker, the hometown star, is verbally committed to Duke.

Parker won four straight Illinois state championships with Simeon and was ranked as the top player in the class before Wiggins reclassified as a senior at the beginning of the school year.

Wiggins and Parker squared off most of the game. Parker finished with 10 points.

"Me and Jabari are friends," Wiggins said. "I look forward to playing against him in the future. I know I will be seeing his face a lot at the next level and level after that. We are both very talented and we are very competitive and love the game.

"Going against Jabari is just the best going against the best and I look forward doing it in the future."

Parker's dad, Sonny, played in the NBA, and so did Wiggins' dad, Mitchell.

"It was like homecoming for me. To see everybody out there, we can celebrate," Jabari Parker said.

The West led by as many as 17 in the first half and was led by Gordon, who scored 14 points. Portis Jr. added 10. Wiggins scored 12 in the half for the East, who trailed 56-44.


Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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