State Tournament teams lead All-Area selections

Apr. 10—2020-2021 The Duncan Banner All-Area Boys Basketball Team

Coach of the Year: Coach Kenny Bare, Velma-Alma

Player of the Year: Josiah Johnson, Marlow

Newcomer of the Year: Crue Garrett, Velma-Alma

6-Man of the Year: Desmond Pettit, Duncan

First Team:

1. Josiah Johnson, Marlow

2. Tyler Stewart, Velma-Alma

3. Nick Johnson, Duncan

4. Jace Saville, Velma-Alma

5. Jace Gilbert, Marlow

6. Daniel Alvarez, Empire

Second Team:

1. Landon Burton, Empire

2. Ben Johnson, Duncan

3. Daniel Alvarez, Empire

4. Austin Hunt, Velma-Alma

5. Avery Payne, Marlow

6. McRay Weber, Empire

Honorable Mention:

Bray-Doyle- Tyler Anderson

Comanche- Myles Ellis and Landon Ellis

Central High- Holten Cole, Kolten Bethune and Jace Waller

Duncan- Desmond Pettit, Austin Pennypacker, Trevyn Stewart and Cannon Mitchell

Empire- Jackson Smith and Brayden Miller

Marlow- Nate Herchock, Blake Harris, Diego Flores and Trevor Boyster

Velma-Alma- Tristan Wainscott

Three of the four individual awards for The Duncan Banner's All-Area Boys' Basketball team were from the two State Tournament teams in Stephens County.

Coach Kenny Bare from the Velma-Alma Comets took home the Coach of the Year Award after taking his team to a 19-7 record and the State Semi-Finals in Class A.

Velma-Alma won the state quarterfinals in triple overtime against Arapaho-Butler and then lost to Garber in the semi-finals to become one of four teams left in a class that has 96 teams in it.

Player of the Year went to Josiah Johnson from Marlow who was part of a team that went to the quarterfinals of the Class 3A State Tournament. They went 18-5 on the 2020-2021 season.

He averaged 15 points per game and seven rebounds per game while shooting an impressive 43% from the three-point line to gather the honors.

Johnson was the leading scorer for the Outlaws as a junior and will be one of several returners coming back to try and advance further than the final eight teams in the state for Class 3A.

The Newcomer of the Year award went to Velma-Alma's Crue Garrett, a sophomore for the Comets who had some big games down the stretch for his team.

In the Semi-Finals, Garrett had 10 points and one rebound and one assist against Garber as one of two players in double digits for the final game of the season for the team.

During the State Tournament victory, Garrett had six points, five rebounds and three assists and in his best regular season game, he also had 10 points against Central High.

The last individual award was the 6-man of the Year award and that went to Duncan Senior Desmond Pettit as his stats were one of the best in the area from coming off the bench.

Pettit had 11.5 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game during the season and helped Duncan to the Class 5A Regional Tournament where he had 15 points in the loss to Noble to end the season.

The first team has two Marlow players in Johnson and Jace Gilbert while Tyler Stewart and Jace Saville are the two Velma-Alma players representing their State Tournament teams.

Nick Johnson from Duncan is the other representative on the First Team as he averaged 14.8 points per game and went 38% from the three-point line on the season.

Daniel Alvarez was the last member of the First Team from the Empire Bulldogs as he had 13.1 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game and 51% from the field during the season.

The All-Area team is listed with all seven Stephens County schools sending in nominees. The Duncan Banner's Sports Staff used those nominations to make the decisions about selections for a first team, second team and honorable mention.