The 2008-09 Hudson Reporter Boys’ and Girls’ All-Area Basketball Teams are perhaps the most unique All-Area teams ever selected by the newspaper.
Usually, the All-Area teams feature repeat performers, players that have gained the accolades from year to year.
That is not the case with this year’s basketball teams.
Only two of the 15 boys honored on the three teams made All-Area a year ago, namely St. Anthony swingman Dominic Cheek and Lincoln’s sensational do-everything Daquan Pettiford.
Cheek, headed for Villanova in the fall, was a repeat honoree on the All-Area First Team. Pettiford made the leap from Third Team last year to First Team this year.
The rest of the All-Area team all features newcomers. The First Team honorees are sophomore Myles Davis of St. Peter’s Prep, his teammate, junior forward Ronald Roberts and senior Tarique Holmes of Bayonne.
Both Davis and Roberts were newcomers to the Prep this season, helping the Marauders repeat as HCIAA Coviello champions, the first time that the Marauders repeated as county champs since 1963.
The 2008-09 Hudson Reporter Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year honor goes to Dominic Cheek, who was the lone solid force in what was a tumultuous season for the fabulous Friars. Cheek, who will play in the McDonald’s High School All-American game next month, averaged 17 points per game and kept the Friar ship afloat while some newcomers had to become eligible.
The 2008-09 Hudson Reporter Boys’ Coach of the Year is Damian Kennedy of St. Joseph of the Palisades, who guided the Blue Jays to the HCIAA Seglio Division championship in the final year of the school’s existence.
While the boys’ team featured only two repeat honorees, the Hudson Reporter Girls’ All-Area squad features not a single repeat performer. All 15 honorees are all new to the All-Area honors this season.
The First Team features fabulous freshman Lisa Rovatsos of HCIAA Coviello champion Bayonne, multi-talented Jen Mateo of Union City, sensational scorer Krystal Edwards of Lincoln, fine power player Bria Smith of St. Dominic Academy and sizzling sophomore Andrea Innis of Secaucus.
While there was a tough call to make for the top honor, the 2008-09 Hudson Reporter Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year goes to Innis of Secaucus, who averaged nearly 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game in leading the Patriots to a 20-win season and a berth in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group I semifinals.
The 2008-09 Hudson Reporter Girls’ Basketball Coach of the Year is James Turner of Bayonne, who had to juggle his lineup throughout the season due to illness and injury and still managed to come away with the HCIAA Coviello title, his first as a head coach. –Jim Hague