What started as a whim only a few months ago grew into the latest sign of just how much basketball is growing in this country.

The inaugural BioSteel All-Canadian Basketball Game tipped Tuesday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Centre and it was a who’s who of basketball names — on the court and off.

Kitchener’s Jamal Murray, considered Canada’s next great hoops prospect and the MVP of last week’s prestigious Nike Hoops Summit game in Portland, turned heads in his latest dominant outing, scoring a game-best 29 points, with 10 assists and eight rebounds in a Team White 99-95 loss.

Sudan-born, Australia-raised 7-footer Thon Maker and his “little” brother Matur Maker, a 6-foot-10 standout plus other Canucks starring at U.S. prep schools and some of the top local talent like Malton’s Jaylen Poyser and Hamilton’s Abu Klgab, who scored 21 and 16 points, respectively for the winners, and Ottawa’s Corey Johnson, who finished with 18.

If you scanned the crowd closely enough, you would recognize faces like Canada’s greatest basketball player, Steve Nash, his assistant in charge of the national team Rowan Barrett and their former teammate, NBA champion Bill Wennington (who served as a guest coach, along with Barrett), plus Charlotte’s Kemba Walker (who will face the Raptors on Wednesday), Argonauts’ Chad Owens and ex-Raptor and former player’s union head Roger Mason Jr. and former Arizona star Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a likely first-rounder this summer

Paul Melnik, the Father Henry Carr head coach who counts Tyler Ennis as a former pupil and Vaughn Secondary’s Gus Gymnopoulos, who coached Andrew Wiggins, worked the sidelines, while hall of famers Wayne Embry and George Raveling watched.

Also on hand — upwards of 60 NBA executives and scouts.

The idea for the game was discussed over lunch by Tony McIntyre and Jesse Tipping, of the Athlete Institute basketball academy in Orangeville. McIntyre and Tipping had stunned the international basketball community by landing the coveted Maker brothers from a prep school in the U.S. and by keeping Murray happy and close to home.

“We had lunch, and we thought the next cool thing to do would definitely be a Canadian all-star game,” Tipping explained of the genesis of the idea.

“We thought with the class we have now, it would be a shame not to have them in one gym playing together. Tony said, ‘We can do that, let’s make it happen.’ ”

And so they did, thrilling the players in the process.

“I am excited, you should see me in the hotel room, just so happy, playing music loud, preparing for it ... we look forward to making history,” Thon Maker said.

“A game like this is not just the Canadian level, because it’s so viral, there’s so much media attention and probably worldwide. The guys in there, their mindset is to get to American type of sports, so their games are not a specific country-type.”

With so many top Canadian talents heading south to finish their high school careers, the rest of the crop had been left out, even though many of them were deserving of recognition as well.

“I think it’s something that we really needed here, and our kids really needed,” McIntyre said.

“Obviously with the McDonalds (All-American Game) and the Jordan (Brand Classic), there’s a platform for American kids, we needed to create that here and give our kids a chance to showcase their talents and all 24 of them, instead of hoping we get one or two of them into those games each year.

“I see a fire in these kids eyes that you don’t normally see.”

You get an idea what McIntyre is talking about when you spend a few minutes picking Murray’s brain.

ESPN doesn’t rank high schoolers playing outside of the U.S., but Murray seems to take it as a personal insult and a big motivator toward his 31-point, MVP performance in Portland.

“(It) just shows you what I can do, a lot of people, like ESPN not rating me in one of the top 100, but keep doing that, and I’ve already proven to be growing and be a developing player,” Murray said.

“A lot of people said it’s because I play in Canada, but, you know, I play every game mostly in the States. I dunno. They have their reasons, but for now I’m just doing what I do on the court.”

In front of a near sellout crowd, what Murray did is what he usually does — outperform the competition.

When Barrett and Wennington were young players, they didn’t have opportunities like this game. They marvel at the possibilities events like this can inspire.

“Young kids are going to watch this game tonight and think, ‘wow, in two years, that’s going to be me,’ ” Barrett said.

“I think the inspiration they can get from that, having people like Bill here, I think it’s tremendous, harkening back to the past, letting them know that there is more than four or five years of NBA history in Canada, that there are some people that paved the way. Hopefully they can continue to work hard so they can be writing the next chapter.”

ENNIS COULD FACE RAPTORS

There is a strong possibility that the Raptors will face the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the NBA playoffs, starting next week.

That would set up quite the interesting scenario in the Ennis-McIntyre household.

That’s because they are a family of lifelong Raptors fans – or at least they were before Tyler Ennis got drafted by the Phoenix Suns, then dealt to the Bucks at the trade deadline.

Now, allegiances are split and Ennis, the team’s rookie reserve guard from Brampton, could suddenly see some time at the ACC, where he attended as a spectator so many times.

The Raptors badly wanted to draft Ennis with the 20th pick last summer, but Phoenix swooped in, thinking they could hold the franchise for ransom for the hometown kid.

Ennis’ dad, Tony McIntyre, who was also his AAU coach and now is the director of basketball operations at Orangeville’s Athlete Institute, is looking forward to the possibility of a Raptors-Bucks matchup, which would depend on Wednesday’s results in Toronto and Chicago (the other possibility is the Raptors meet the Washington Wizards).

“I’m looking forward to it, I hope that they do get a chance to play each other,” McIntyre told the Toronto Sun on Tuesday.

“For Tyler to be able to come back here and be a part of the playoffs after just two years ago, he was in high school watching the Raptors fight for a playoff berth would be special.”

Even if the Raptors supporters turn on Ennis for the moment.

“No matter if the fans want to turn on him or not,” McIntyre said with a smile.

“He’s still Canadian, he’s still here, he still loves his city. Obviously the fans will still cheer for the Raptors, but he’ll be happy to be here.”