WESTON, Mass. — Today's high school basketball stars don't get many chances to play the game they love simply for fun. When those events come up on the calendar, like the A Shot For Life All-Star Games, some of the top talent in New England is happy to turn out.
The third annual ASFL All-Star Games took place at Rivers Tuesday night, part of a week that will also include the organization's flagship shooting challenge on Saturday. The boys and girls showcases celebrated both the talent in the gym and their efforts to raise money for cancer research.
"What's really cool is they get to be kids. They're not just basketball players out here; they're young people," A Shot For Life founder Mike Slonina said. "I mean, recruitment is brutal, and the intensity of that pressure... I think they sleep on that, and you see them traveling the country all summer. Watching them kind of let their guard down and talk and laugh and hang out with kids — some they know and some they don't know — that's a really cool thing, and that's why this is special."
The stakes were low, and for most of the two games, there were more smiles than stops. But competition was bound to flare up.
In the girls matchup, Tabor standout Kaelyn Carroll (Dedham, Mass.) and Team Blue trailed 85-70 in the second half. But Carroll led a furious comeback, cutting the deficit to 94-91 before Team White ultimately pulled away for a 102-91 victory. In those final minutes, the defense intensified, Carroll pushed for the referees to call more travels, and Team Blue even created their own press, with mixed results.
"Towards the end we were just like, 'Oh God, we're losing,' and we don't like to lose," Carroll said. "We actually made up a whole press — we named it 'Blue' — but unfortunately, not the rest of the team got that. But yeah, it was fun to play."
Carroll, the 29th-ranked player nationally in the Class of 2025, finished with a game-high 23 points. Aleah Bracey (New Bedford, Mass.) led Team White with 19 points, and Princeton-bound senior Grace O'Sullivan (Acton, Mass.) added 17 points in her home Rivers gym.
"Especially since AAU just ended, this is just such a fun way to play for fun and play with friends," Carroll said.
The boys game was filled with stepback threes and alley-oop dunk attempts. Team Blue – led by Penn commit Ryan Altman (Brookline, Mass) and Harvard commit Austin Hunt (Marlborough, Mass.), who each scored 34 points – rolled to a 178-168 victory over Team White. The matchup featured some playful 1-on-1 rivalries, with Team Blue’s Jay Jones (Brookline, Mass.) and Team White’s Alex Wilkins (Charlestown, Mass), who are Middlesex Magic teammates, going at each other throughout the game.
The two guards have built a friendly rivalry dating back to last high school season, when Wilkins’ Brooks team faced Jones’ Rivers squad three times. Rivers beat Brooks in all three meetings, including in the NEPSAC Class B playoff semifinals in March.
“I like to talk to him about that a lot,” Jones said with a smile.
Jones said Wilkins joked that he was returning to Rivers – the site of that playoff game – on Tuesday looking for some revenge. But Jones got the best of him again. On one play in the third quarter, Wilkins jumped on Jones’ back and pulled him down, but Jones drilled a 3-pointer for a four-point play. Later on, Jones, who finished with 21 points, backed down Wilkins in the post for a bucket and then hit him with the “too small” celebration.
“It’s a lot of fun going against him. He’s awesome,” Jones said. “Obviously we were teammates over the summer, but I’ve gotten really close with him. It’s cool.”
Jones – who was participating in A Shot For Life for a third time – said he enjoyed playing in such a fun and care-free game, a rarity with so many serious games throughout the calendar. The basketball community that the event fosters and the opportunity to play with friends for a meaningful cause keeps bringing him back.
“We’re doing it for a great cause and it’s been awesome,” Jones said. “I’ve met a bunch of great people here and Slo’s the best.”
A Shot For Life started with the basketball shooting challenge, now in its 12th season, but has expanded to multiple sports in multiple states, also including Rhode Island and Connecticut. But the real reward for Slonina is seeing the money raised actually contribute to breakthroughs in cancer research.
In March, Dr. Bryan Choi and Dr. William Curry of Massachusetts General Hospital published the results of a study partially funded by A Shot For Life in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results of the study showed "dramatic and rapid" reduction in glioblastoma in three patient cases using a new form of treatment in CAR-T cell therapy.
“Those moments are the moments where you realize, ‘Oh wow, we’re really doing something here,'" Slonina said. "We’re not playing an all-star game and then just kind of congratulating ourselves for raising money. We’re actually making an impact on real people with real families they want to see next Christmas, and that’s what makes this all so cool.”
