Clark High’s Gaines gets USA invitation

Tuesday, May 25, 1999 | 10:44 a.m.

Clark High School senior Kevin Gaines received yet another honor this week, an invitation to try out for the USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team, which will compete in Portugal this summer.

Gaines, the Sun's 1999 State Player of the Year, was one of 30 players selected to participate in this week's tryouts, which will be held in Colorado Springs, Colo., from Thursday to Saturday. The invitees for the 19-and-under squad are either collegiate freshmen or high school seniors.

And while Gaines will be unable to attend, because the tryouts conflict with his final exams, the Michigan-bound guard said he was thrilled to have been included in the elite group.

"It's a real honor, even though I can't go" Gaines said. "I was shocked when I found out I was invited."

Gaines also earned a spot on All-Stater Sports Magazine's West Region High School Dream Team, joining Californians Andrew Gooden, Casey Jacobsen and Jason Kapono and Alaska's Carlos Boozer on the first squad. Cheyenne senior Demetrius Hunter made the West Region's fifth team.

Live chat: Tuesday, noon PST; Chat with Krista Creelman; Problem Gambling Center executive director Krista Creelman will answer questions about gambling addiction from Las Vegas Sun readers from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. ... Submit question