Picayune basketball standout Chris Dees doesn’t look at his selection to the South team for this weekend’s Mississippi Association of Coaches state All-Star game as an individual honor.

“It’s more about representing Picayune and putting our team out there for people to see how good our program is,” Dees said. “It’s a huge honor to be picked, but basketball is not an individual sport it’s a team game.”

Tip off between the North and South, of which Dees will be a member of, is set for 3 p.m., Saturday at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College. This is the 53rd annual affair, and several years ago the format for the game was changed to feature rising seniors as opposed to outgoing seniors, which is the format followed by most all-star games.

“Chris is very deserving of this honor,” Picayune head basketball coach Daniel Kennedy said. “This is a huge opportunity for him. He is one of only 24 players across the entire state selected for this game. I think he feels like this is an important game for him, and it is.”

Dees paced the Maroon Tide in both scoring and rebounding last season as a junior, averaging 17 points and 10 boards per game. He helped guide a mostly junior laden squad to an impressive 30-6 record in Kennedy’s first year at the helm after replacing veteran Dean Shaw.

The Maroon Tide won the Class 4A South State championship once again before falling in the overall state semifinals to eventual state champ Jackson Lanier in the Mississippi Coliseum.

“It will be good to face strong competition and be able to measure how well I play against other guys,” Dees added. “My goal is to be a Dandy Dozen next season, so I want to play well but I don’t want to force anything. I’m just going to let it come to me.”

Dees arrived in Clinton today for the game, and the teams will practice today and Friday before having an all-star activities session Friday night.

Dees is one of four players from South Mississippi in the game, joing Pass Christian’s Willis Brownlee and two players from Moss Point in Travis Rasco and Travis Jackson. The South boys lead the series over the North 33-19. The boys game will be preceeded by the girls all-star contest which tips off at 3 p.m., in Wood Coliseum

(Photo courtesy of Maroontide.com and Carey Meitzler)