all city and all valley

LA City Section Player of the Year,
All-City & All-Valley Teams Selected--(March 26, 1999)

James Wright (6'-0" Sr. PG), one of the quickest point guards ever to play in any City Section team, who will attend Long Beach State next year, was selected as the LA City Player of the Year by the Amateur Athletic Foundation by a panel of sportswriters (presumably all employed by the LA Times, but a Daily News guy here and there might have snuck in). The announcement of the All-City Teams was made today by the LA Times.

Wright, who led Manual Arts to the City Section boys' basketball championship, was selected to the Amateur Athletic Foundation/All-City team, by a panel of Southland prep sportswriters based on nominations from coaches. Wright averaged 24.2 points and 6.5 assists for the Toilers, who defeated Fairfax for the title and advanced to the semifinals of the Southern California regional of the state tournament. And while a lot of people thought that the City Section POY should have been Joe Shipp from Fairfax, we can't say that the selection of Wright was really a surprise or that Shipp should have received the nod over Wright. Manual Arts senior guard Curtis Millage and senior forward Brandon Moorer also were selected as among the 10 who made the All-City first team.

James Wright (6'-0" Sr. PG) Manual Arts--Player of the Year
First Team All-City	Second Team All-City
Curits Millage (6'-0" Sr. PG/SG) Manual Arts Brandon Moorer (6'-7" Sr. F) Manual Arts Joe Shipp (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF) Fairfax Stanley Thorne (5'-9" Sr. PG) Fairfax Gilbert Arenas (6'-4" Sr. SG) Grant E.J. Harris (6'-3" Jr. PG) Crenshaw Lou Wright (6'-6" Jr. SG) Westchester Ronald Johnson (6'-4" Sr. SG) South Gate Edward Estavan (5'-11" Sr. SG/PG) Palisades Kent Dennis (6'-3" Sr. SG) Cleveland.	Jawan Carter (6'-4" Sr. SG) Fremont Brian Berumen (6'-2" Sr. SG) Franklin James Word ( 5'-11" Sr. PG) Poly Malcolm Overton (6'-2" Sr. SG) Jefferson Jason Morrissette (6'-3" Jr. SG) Fairfax Jeremiah Turner (6'-6" Sr. F) Sylmar Robert Turnbull (6'-3" Sr. SG) Mid-City Marques Duncantel (6'-3" Sr. SG/SF) Carson Nehemiah Campbell (6'-5" Sr. SF) Washington Prep Tyrone Riley (6'-6" Jr. F) Jordan

Note that the heights of a couple of these guys may be off a bit, but we're relying on information from others for a couple of the second team guys we haven't personally seen.

The LA Times also issued their "All-Valley" and "All-Ventura County" teams today, and there was some crossover for a couple of the City Section guys. Of course, Gilbert Arenas was selected by the Times as the "All-Valley" region player of the year.

Here's the Times 1999 All Valley basketball team (just remember that the commentary is from the Times, and not from us):

Scott Borchart (6'-9" So. C) Chaminade: It's no coincidence that Borchart has been at Chaminade for two years and the Eagles have won two Southern Section Division III-A titles. He averaged 15.6 points and 7.7 rebounds.

Kent Dennis (6'-3" Sr. SG) Cleveland: Once in the shadow of Ruben Douglas at Bell-Jeff, Dennis transferred and established himself as one of the best guards in the City Section. He averaged 24.6 points for Cleveland.

Nana Gbewonyo (6'-4" Sr. F) Kennedy: Gbewonyo excelled with aggressive rebounding, an attacking style on offense and an intimidating presence on defense. Among the region's most improved players, averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Kevin Krose (6'-3" Sr. F) Burroughs: Krose ranked second in the Foothill League in scoring, averaging 16.8 points, while leading the Indians to their first league basketball title since 1990.

Russell Lakey (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Harvard-Westlake: After struggling early while trying to adjust to point-guard duties, Lakey reinforced his reputation as one of the region's top juniors. He averaged 16.6 points, four assists and 3.5 steals.

Eskias McDaniels (6'-5" Sr. F) Valencia: An overpowering inside player, McDaniels averaged 21.4 points and 11.5 rebounds, leading Foothill League players in both categories.

Devin Montgomery (5'-11" Sr. PG) Alemany: A transfer from San Fernando High, Montgomery averaged 21.5 points and helped Alemany tie Chaminade for the Mission League title and advance to a Division III-AA semifinal.

T.K. Reed (6'-0" Sr. PG) Sylmar: Few players were more respected by opposing coaches than Reed, who was both defensive stopper and playmaker. He averaged 9.6 points and 6.8 assists.

Jeremiah Turner (6'-6" Sr. F) Sylmar: With long arms and excellent leaping ability, Turner was a powerful, intimidating player in the paint. He averaged 13.2 points and 9.7 rebounds for the Spartans.

And the co-coaches this year in the Valley were James Morris and Adam Levitt from Cleveland High, who in their rookie season, guided Cleveland to a 10-0 record in the West Valley League, a 21-5 overall mark and a near-upset of top-seeded Fairfax in a City Championship quarterfinal.

The Times also picked their All-Ventura county team, and we'll post that up separately.

Congratulations to all of the picks from the City and the Valley from SoCalHoops.