HIGH SCHOOL

Wilkes, Scruggs, Jackson named core Junior All-Stars

Kyle Neddenriep
IndyStar
From left to right: Jaren Jackson Jr., Kris Wilkes and Paul Scruggs.

Three local standouts lead the list of boys IndyStar Indiana Junior All-Stars selected through votes by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association at its all-state meeting.

Park Tudor’s Jaren Jackson Jr., Southport’s Paul Scruggs and North Central’s Kris Wilkes were named among the six core juniors.  The core group of six will play in both exhibition games against the Indiana All-Stars on June 7 and 9 at sites that will be announced at a later date.

The other core juniors are Jack Nunge of Castle, Crown Point’s Sasha Stefanovic and Fort Wayne Snider’s Malik Williams.

Recruiting: Updated Class of 2017 Indiana basketball rankings

None of the six core juniors are committed for college, though several are considered national recruits. The 6-7 Wilkes is ranked No. 12 in the junior class by Rivals.com, Scruggs is No. 32, Williams is No. 36 and Jackson Jr. is No. 63. The 6-9 Nunge has offers from Clemson, Iowa and Vanderbilt, among others, and Stefanovic from Evansville, Indiana State and others.

Six players making up the North group will join the core juniors for one of the exhibition games and six from the South will play with the core group in another exhibition game.

The coaches for the juniors have not yet been selected, All-Star director Charlie Hall said.

Here are the 18 players selected:

Core group

Jaren Jackson Jr., 6-9, Park Tudor

Jack Nunge, 6-9, Castle

Paul Scruggs, 6-3, Southport

Sasha Stefanovic, 6-4, Crown Point

Kris Wilkes, 6-7, North Central

Malik Williams, 6-11, Fort Wayne Snider

North group

Jalen Adaway, 6-4, Logansport

Jaylen Butz, 6-9, Fort Wayne North

Jermaine Couisnard, 6-2, East Chicago Central

Parker Hazen, 6-6, Columbia City

Kyle Mangas, 6-2, Warsaw

Tyler Smith, 6-1, Northeastern

South group

Michael Ertel, 6-0, Mt. Vernon

Zach Gunn, 6-7, Hamilton Southeastern

Isaac Hibbard, 6-0, New Albany

Jaylen Minnett, 6-1, Terre Haute South

Cooper Neese, 6-3, Cloverdale

Justin Roberts, 6-0, Pike

 Call IndyStar reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.