Donnie Johnson has been officiating basketball for 15 seasons. This weekend, he will turn high school basketball event organizer.
Johnson has put together the "Across County Showcase" at Penn Hills High School Saturday and Sunday. It is an event for high school players that will include some of the top boys and girls from the WPIAL and City League.
"I officiated some at an outdoor league in California [Pa.] this summer and thought there were some good players from those outlying areas that people don't know about," said Johnson. "So I decided to try and put together a 'cross county' basketball tournament and tried to reach out to at least one coach from several ares to get the best 12 players he can to come down and play a tournament."
Johnson ended up getting boys and girls teams representing seven different areas. The teams are Allegheny North, Allegheny South, Allegheny East, Mercer, Washington, Westmoreland and the City.
Plum's James Edwards, one of the WPIAL's top seniors who recently committed to Air Force, will play in the event along with Latrobe guard Sean Graytok and North Hills forward Ishmael Waldron, two other top seniors in the WPIAL. Some top non-seniors also will play.
Norwin's Alayna Gribble, a Pitt recruit, along with Penn Hills standouts Desiree Oliver and Jade Ely (Cleveland State recruit) are a few who will play on the girls side.
"I figured a lot of these kids beat on each other at these small leagues, so let's just see if we can get them all together and have some fun with a tournament," said Johnson.
Johnson will use both the old and new gyms at Penn Hills. The tournament, which is open to the public, begins at 9 a.m. Saturday. Each team will play two games Saturday. On Sunday, all teams will participate in a single-elimination tournament.
PBR showcase
Steve Brodzinski of the Pittsburgh Basketball Report is putting together an event for top players in the area next month.
The Best of Pittsburgh Performance Camp will be Nov. 1 at Chatham University. The event will have 40 seniors, 40 juniors and 40 sophomores-freshmen. It is sort of a combine for players. Each group will work out and also play during a 2 1/2-hour period.