Two of this week’s honorees are Ilmar’I Thomas from San Francisco Sacred Heart Cathedral and Evan Battey of Villa Park. Photos: Willie Eashman & Twitter.com.
Boys and girls hoops takes over this feature for this week with one boy and one girl honoree for each region. For this first go-round, it’s a San Francisco sweep in the North as Ilmar’L Thomas of Sacred Heart Cathedral and Zeke Crawford of Stuart Hall nab the honors. In the south, congrats to Evan Battey of Villa Park and Delacy Brown of Riverside Poly.
Note: For purposes of this feature, we are considering the CIF Central Section to be in the north.
To nominate a player for next week, email markjtennis@gmail.com by Monday at 12 noon and be sure to include a photo that we can use (which means it’s not from the local newspaper or from another web site).
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Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Zeke Crawford (Stuart Hall, San Francisco) Sr.
The Knights are off to a 7-0 start to the season and the play of this senior forward is a big reason why.
Helping a team that went 30-4 last season and lost leading scorer Armani Collins to graduation, Zeke is averaging 19 points and nine rebounds after averaging just over 10 points per game last season.
With four double-double performances last week, he scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds during a 76-67 win over Piedmont and nearly outscored Pinewood of Los Altos Hills on his own with 24 points and 10 rebounds during a 56-25 win at the Redwood Classic.
Cal-Hi Sports Northern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Ilmar’I Thomas (Sacred Heart Cathedral, S.F.) Jr.
It was a great start to the season for Thomas and the 3-0 Fightin’ Irish, who won the Cardinal Newman Classic in Santa Rosa last weekend over a strong field.
Thomas, who was named tourney MVP and was an all-state sophomore choice last season, had three double-doubles in her three games, including 28 points and 10 rebounds in a 80-65 win over Oregon City (Ore.) in the semifinals, which was the preseason No. 1 ranked team in Oregon.
Thomas also had 28 points and 13 rebounds vs. Oakland High and 23 points and 13 rebounds in a 54-50 triumph over host Cardinal Newman in the tourney final.
Cal-Hi Sports Southern California
Boys Basketball Player of the Week
Evan Battey (Villa Park) Jr.
Battey went bonkers during a 101-95 overtime win against Adelanto at last weekend’s Sierra Vista Tournament when he scored a game-high 44 points and grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds for the Spartans.
Earlier in the tourney, he also had a 28-point performance during a 65-62 loss to Walnut and 23 points with 15 rebounds during a 81-37 win over Bassett of La Puente.
Listed at 6-foot-7 and 235 pounds, this junior played his first two seasons of high school basketball at Los Angeles CES and was one of just two underclassmen to earn all-city first team honors last year.
Cal-HI Sports Southern California
Girls Basketball Player of the Week
Delacy Brown (Poly, Riverside) Sr.
Scoring at least 22 points in all five games this season, this 5-foot-6 senior captain scored 45 points to go along with seven rebounds, six steals and five assists as the Bears defeated San Gorgonio of San Bernardino 70-30 for their first win this season.
Brown also scored 28 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Poly’s next game, a 58-47 win over Perris, for her first double-double of the year.
Playing on varsity since her freshman year, Brown could finish her high school career with over 2,000 points. Heading into this week, she currently sits with 1,564.
Thanks to Stockton office assistant editor Paul Muyskens for contributions to this post. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
