The Orange County Register and OCVarsity.com have made their selections for the All-County boys basketball teams for the 2012-13 season.
FIRST TEAM
STANLEY JOHNSON
Mater Dei, Jr., 6-7, F
The Register’s player of the year.
Season highlights: Johnson is Orange County player of the year. He also is a Wooden Award winner, was Trinity League player of the year, and has led his team to the CIF State Championships Open Division championship game. After missing all 10 of his shots in the first half of the CIF Southern California Regionals Open Division final, he scored 16 points in the third quarter, including four 3-pointers, to lead Mater Dei to a 60-37 victory. He was the MVP of the Orange Holiday Classic, and scored 27 points against Tustin in the tournament championship game. He scored 29 points in a league victory over Orange Lutheran, and 31 in a home victory over St. John Bosco of Bellflower in another league game. Johnson scored 69 points over three state tournament games.
Notable: Johnson was All-County first team last year.
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All-County boys basketball team
Boys basketball player of the year: Stanley Johnson
Boys basketball coach of the year: Todd Dixon
All-County boys basketball: Also honored
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Quotable: “Stanley reminds me a lot of Larry Johnson who played at UNLV. He can play all five sports on the floor. He can shoot, rebound and dribble, and he’s going to handle the ball for us a lot more next year. Stanley can beat you inside and outside. He’s just a winner.” – Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight.
Season stats: 35 games, 19 ppg, 8 rpg, 2 apg
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ELIJAH BROWN
Mater Dei, Sr., 6-4, G
Season highlights: Brown had his best game in one of the Monarchs’ most important games, equaling his season high of 33 points in a CIF Southern California Regionals Open Division semifinals victory over Long Beach Poly. He scored a team-high 21 points in Mater Dei’s loss to Etiwanda in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA championship game. Brown scored eight points in the final minute of that game to give the Monarchs a chance to win it. He put together a string of outstanding performances in crucial Trinity League games. Brown, all-league first team, scored 25 in a victory over St. John Bosco of Bellflower and 18 in a triumph over Orange Lutheran. He scored 33 points in a tournament victory over JSerra.
Notable: Son of former Lakers coach Mike Brown; Brown committed to Butler.
Quotable: “Elijah had some big-time games for us, games where he carried us. He put in a lot of time and workbetween last year and this year to be the player he is now.” – Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight
Season stats: 35 games, 18 ppg, 5 rpg, 2 apg
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NICK HORNSBY
Tustin, Sr., 6-6, F
Season highlights: Hornsby led the Tillers to a 31-3 record and the CIF-Southern Section Division 3AAA championship. Tustin got to that 3AAA championship game when Hornsby scored 26 points in a semifinals victory over Compton. Two rounds earlier, Hornsby scored 21 points in a victory over San Bernardino. He scored 10 points with 10 rebounds in the low-scoring 3AAA final, in which Tustin beat Royal of Simi Valley, 49-32. He scored 17 against Mater Dei when the Tillers lost to the Monarchs in the championship game of the Orange Holiday Classic. Hornsby scored 25 points in an Empire League victory over Cypress, making nine of 12 shots, with 13 rebounds. He also scored 29 with 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots in another league victory, over Pacifica. Hornsby was an Empire League player of the year.
Notable: He signed with Sacramento State.
Quotable: “Nick helped us in so many ways. What I’m most proud of is that he could have scored 25 points any given night, but for us to be successful he had to sacrifice some scoring and he was happy to do that.” – Tustin coach Ringo Bossenmeyer
Season stats: 33 games, 17 ppg, 9 rpg, 3 apg
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LUKE SELWAY
Villa Park, Sr., 6-3, G
Season highlights: He was named Century League player of the year after leading the Spartans to the league championship. Selway scored 16 points in Villa Park’s one-point loss to J.W. North of Riverside in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2AA championship game. He shot 7 for 12 in the game, and had 10 rebounds and four steals. Selway was county player of the week in the final week of the regular season in early February when he scored 33 points with 18 rebounds in a league loss to Canyon, and followed with 23 points and 12 rebounds with seven assists and six steals in a league victory over Esperanza. He scored 22 points and 21 points in back-to-back league victories over El Dorado and Brea Olinda in early January.
Notable: Selway was held to single-digit scoring only once, against Foothill. But he contributed 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals in a Villa Park victory.
Quotable: “There is not one part of a game in which Luke does not affect it. He guards the other team’s best player on most nights, he gets steals and he gets rebounds, sometimes he has to run the point, sometimes we post him up. Then all of a sudden, when the game is over, he’s filled the stat sheet will all these points, rebounds, steals, assists and blocks.” – Villa Park coach Kevin Reynolds
Season stats: 32 games, 18 ppg, 12 rpg, 5 apg
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EVAN ZELLER
Mission Viejo, Sr., 6-3, G
Season highlights: Zeller was named South Coast League player of the year. He was named county player of the week in mid-January after scoring 74 points over three games – 20 in a league victory over Capistrano Valley, 24 in a nonleague victory over Laguna Hills, and 30 in another league triumph over Tesoro. He earlier had scored 35 points against Tesoro. Zeller scored a career-high 50 points against University, a game in which he made 24 of 29 shots. He made 56 percent of his shots during the season. He scored 18 points when the Diablos defeated Orange Lutheran in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA playoffs.
Notable: Zeller is a four-year varsity player, and was selected All-CIF as a junior.
Quotable: “Evan did whatever we needed him to do to help the team. If he had to bring the ball up the floor to run the offense, he did that. If we needed him to inbounds the ball to break the press, he would do that, too.” – Mission Viejo coach Troy Roelen
Season stats: 28 games, 21 ppg, 5 rpg, 5 apg
