Williamstown senior Alex Irvin appears to drive into the paint through a game against Ritchie County. The Yellowjacket was named to the Class AA all-state initial group.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sal Dean moved to Chapmanville for his final season of higher college basketball with 1 purpose in thoughts: To finish his profession with a state championship.
The electrifying six-foot guard did just that as he guided the Tigers to their third state title with a 59-49 triumph more than Charleston Catholic in the Class AA championship game.
Dean is now reaping the rewards from that tournament run, which also featured wins more than Ravenswood and Bluefield, as he was voted the captain of the Class AA all-state initial group by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
“Sal is a super competitor. He does not like to shed,” Chapmanville coach Brad Napier stated. “He’s a quite really hard worker. You speak about a kid that brings it every single day in practice. He plays with the identical sort of power that he played the state tournament with every single day in practice. He’s just going to do what ever he can do to lead his group to a win.”
In the 3 state tournament wins, Dean filled up the stat sheet for the Tigers. He scored a combined 47 points, such as nine three-pointers, to go along with 25 rebounds and 14 assists.
Any time Chapmanville necessary a significant play to adjust the momentum of the game, Dean stepped up to the occasion, irrespective of whether it be a clutch step-back three or a chase-down block on the defensive finish.
“He just gives a massive spark when he’s in the game simply because he plays with so substantially emotion,” Napier sad. “And he offers his teammates a lot of self-assurance as well. He sort of feeds off the emotion of the crowd, and a lot of the other guys feed off him and his power.”
In his senior season, Dean, who scored 1,465 points through the initial 3 years of his profession at Belfry Higher College in Kentucky, averaged 21 points, 7.four rebounds and 7.1 assists a game.
Napier, who has coached quite a few all-state players through his coaching profession, such as former Class AA captain and present Marshall starter Obinna Anochili-Killen, stated Dean ranks correct up there.
“Sal is going to have a fantastic chance to play at the subsequent level someplace,” Napier stated. “He’s going to uncover that out in a handful of weeks to a month. We appear forward to assisting him attempt to uncover a great match for him at the subsequent level, simply because we know he can play at that level and be quite thriving at the college level.”
Dean was joined on the initial group by six-foot-7 teammate Zion Blevins, who scored a game-higher 19 points in the title game win. That matched his season typical of 19.7 points per game. He also averaged ten.7 boards, two.eight blocks and three.four assists a game.
“Zion is a quite talented kid. He’s just quite gifted offensively and can play every single position on the floor,” Napier stated. “Through his 3 years at Chapmanville so far, he’s played every single position from center to point guard at several occasions. He can do it all. Occasionally Zion does not know how great he can be. He’s just a quite blessed and skilled guy with fantastic size and strength. He’s all the things you want out of a basketball player.”
Every single member of the initial group played in the Class AA state tournament.
Bluefield juniors R.J. Hairston and Kam’Ron Gore produced the second set of teammates to garner a nod on the initial group right after they guided the Beavers to a Class AA semifinal look, exactly where they lost a tight game to eventual champion Chapmanville.
Gore turned in averages of 13 points, two assists and two steals a game though shooting 39% from deep, though Hairston was a force on the inside with 12 points, eight.three rebounds, two steals and 1.five blocks a evening.
Charleston Catholic’s Jayallen Turner, who helped guide the Irish to a runner-up finish, was voted to the initial group for the second straight season. The six-foot-four junior completed the year with averages of 20 points, 7.9 rebounds, two.three assists and two steals a game.
Ravenswood senior Matt Carte and South Harrison senior Corey Boulden also each garnered a initial-group nod for the second straight season.
Carte averaged 22.four points, 7.7 rebounds, five.1 assists and two steals a game and led the Red Devils to the Class AA quarterfinals, though Boulden also guided the Hawks to the quarterfinals and completed with 23.six points per contest.
Six-foot-five Williamstown senior Alex Irvin rounds out the initial group right after he averaged 16 points, four.1 rebounds, 1.five steals and 1 block per game for the Yellowjackets. He helped guide Williamstown to a 25- begin to the season ahead of they had been defeated by Charleston Catholic in an thrilling semifinal game.
Irvin’s teammate sophomore Parker Schramm was named captain of the second group. He was joined by Bluefield senior Caleb Fuller, South Harrison senior Noah Burnside, St. Marys senior Luke Powell, Ritchie County senior Ethan Haught, Wheeling Central Catholic junior Quinton Burlenski, Trinity junior Carter Hartsock and Charleston Catholic sophomore Max Wilcox.
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