June 29, 2011

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech Bulldog basketball signee Raheem Appleby scored 15 points to lead the East to a 77-70 win over the West in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game last week at Bud Walton Arena.

Appleby, a 6-foot-3-inch point guard out of Jacksonville High School, was selected as the game's Most Valuable Player after hitting on 6-of-9 field goals and leading his team to a come-from-behind win.

With his team trailing in the final period, Appleby took over, igniting the crowd with a dunk and minutes later, capping the run with an assist off the backboard for a dunk by a teammate.

Appleby won the award ahead of a number of Top 50 recruits, including future Arkansas Razorbacks Ky Madden and Hunter Mickelson.

"It felt good," Appleby said. "There was a lot of talent up there, and I got the MVP. I wasn't ranked like some of the others I played with, so maybe that was a statement I made."

That statement being that he is on the level of the top players in his class, a class that is one of, if not the, highest rated classes to ever come out of Arkansas.

Appleby's high-school coach Vic Joyner wasn't surprised that his former charge turned in that kind of performance.

"Raheem, hands down in my estimation, is the best pure basketball player in the state," Joyner said. "Not just my estimation, but a lot of college coaches thought the same thing. The only thing they were apprehensive about was his size. I tried to explain to them that he always did this kind of thing against the best players in the state, and in one of the best runs of talent the state's ever had. He's the real deal. He has all the intangibles, so much character and guts. I've had a couple people who know tell me, if he puts on some muscle and some weight, he might get to the league."

Appleby is fully qualified and ready to play for the Bulldogs as a freshman.