The All-WNY boys basketball team:
Bios, photos and stats
All-WNY Boys Basketball | All-WNY Girls Basketball
| First Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Player | School | Ht. | Yr. |
| C | Will Regan | Nichols | 6-9 | 11 |
| G | Chris Secky | Maple Grove | 6-3 | 11 |
| G | Mansa Habeeb | McKinley | 6-4 | 12 |
| G | Kelvin Agee | Niagara Falls | 6-3 | 12 |
| F | Alex Barth | Williamsville North | 6-3 | 12 |
| Second Team | ||||
| F | Dallas Gary | East | 6-4 | 12 |
| F | Domonique Jackson | East | 6-3 | 11 |
| C | Jason Norsen | Frontier | 6-6 | 12 |
| G | Keron Briggs | Sweet Home | 5-9 | 11 |
| G | Mark Coppola | Williamsville South | 5-6 | 11 |
| Third Team | ||||
| C | J.C. Tretter | Akron | 6-4 | 12 |
| G | Blair Helton | Canisius | 6-1 | 11 |
| C | Kenyon Edwards | Grover Cleveland | 6-6 | 12 |
| G | Davon Marshall | Niagara Falls | 5-11 | 11 |
| G | Ron Canestro | Nichols | 6-0 | 11 |
| Fourth Team | ||||
| G | Anthony Battaglia | Depew | 5-11 | 12 |
| G | Carlos Rivera | Jamestown | 5-6 | 11 |
| F | Robby Seyler | Lew-Port | 6-1 | 12 |
| G | Lucas Haskell | Pioneer | 5-10 | 12 |
| G | Ashton Brown | Randolph | 5-10 | 12 |
Honorable Mention
First Team
Will ReganNews Player of the Year Will Regan of Nichols joins standout company by winning the award in his junior year. The feat has only been achieved by Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, Maceo Wofford Jason Rowe and Tim Winn (co-winners) and another forward from Nichols, Christian Laettner.
Regan averaged 23.9 points per game on an eye-popping 60.5 percent, all the more impressive since he rounded out his game this year with a deadly mid-range jumper and even the occassional three-pointer. He sunk 176 of 220 free throws for 80 percent. He grabbed 13.8 rebounds and blocked 3.7 shots per game with his long, 6-foot-9 frame while he averaged 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals.
Regan has 1,401 points for his career after a season in which he scored 646. He potentially could join another exclusive club next year: only 12 players are in Western New York's 2,000-point club.
Regan has continued to recieve intense Division I interest from Michigan, Stanford, Maryland, Arizona State, Vanderbilt and Villanova just to name a few of the litany of power programs that have been in contact. He has also been one of 85 juniors (and 15 sophomores) invited to the NBA's high school summer camp held this June in Charlottesville, Va.
Chris SeckyDribbles with either hand. Finishes with both hands. Hits three-pointers. Drops in hanging baseline jumpers. Unleashes slick assists and is exceedingly unselfish. Dunks on the fast-break — or standing still. Takes the big shot, makes the big shot.
Secky is a 6-3 junior who has point-guarded Maple Grove to Glens Falls for two straight seasons. Last year he led a veteran squad to the Class C title. This season he led a revamped, younger, less-talented team to the Class D final four, where the Red Dragons fell in double-overtime.
Secky, who also quarterbacked the Red Dragons to the state Class D football title last fall, is already his school's all-time leading scorer with 1,555 points after a season in which he averaged 19 points on 48 percent shooting. He is also tops on the schools' all-time steals and assists lists. His point total is 52nd on the all-time Western New York list. He averaged 7.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 4.4 steals and 0.8 blocks.
Mansa HabeebMcKinley used a rotation of up to 12 players to pester opponents and push the pace, but when they needed someone to make the biggest plays of their season, it was their 6-4 senior who came through.
Need a buzzer-beating drive to force overtime in the A-1 final? Check. Steals in the final minute in the Class A final against Depew? Check. Actually, how about two steals in the final minute? Check again.
Habeeb's fadeaway jumper could be unstoppable, and the oohs-and-ahs would be their most pronounced when he set it up by pulling the ball back after putting on the brakes against his defender. Habeeb could be fierce inside as well, perhaps never more on a three-point play late in his 40-point game in the double-overtime A-1 title game against South.
He averaged 23.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists, 2.5 steals, 2.0 blocks and finished with 1,338 career points. Division I schools are interested, likely after a stop at prep school.
Kelvin AgeeThe tradition continues. For the eighth straight season — that's all but the first year the school has been in existence — Niagara Falls has a first-team selection, and there was no doubt from the first tip of the season that Agee would be it.
The 6-3 senior put forth stellar performances early on against Rush-Henrietta and Nichols and late in another Falls run to Glens Falls. Most notable was a school-record 11 steals (along with 27 points) in the Wolverines' 66-56 Far West Regional victory over Greece-Athena to earn Falls' sixth trip in the school's nine seasons to the state final four in Glens Falls.
Averaged 22.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Wolverines while shooting 79 percent from the foul line.
Finished with 1,043 career points and more than 400 rebounds. He has been in contact with schools like Canisius, St. Bonaventure and Central Connecticut.
Alex BarthThe 6-3 senior displayed all-around excellence for Williamsville North. He averaged 21.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks.
But he might be best remembered for something not many players in the last decade of Western New York basketball can claim: Barth almost beat Niagara Falls.
In the Class AA title game, Barth displayed all of his all-around ability with a block-and-layup, and a steal that was followed by a three-point play for a solo five-point run to put North up, 54-49, with 5:26 to play. Barth, the main ballhandler and scorer on his team as well as its top defender, had 16 of his 28 points in the fourth before the Spartans fell, 67-60.
Barth hit more three-pointers (45) than the rest of his team combined and had the uncanny ability to get in the lane and earn a whistle by drawing contact (and often made three-point plays out of it). Defensively he often guarded the opponents' best player.
North won its first ECIC I title since 1992-93. Its most impressive nonleague showing was winning Williamsville South's Jolly Boys Tournament over the holiday break. Barth, who will attend either Geneseo or Seton Hall, earned game MVP honors after a 30-point effort in an 81-62 win over South in its own gym.
Second Team
Dallas GaryEast, 6-4 senior forward
PPG: 22.0 Reb.: 5.5 Assts.: 3.5
Major-league scorer was a major-league reason East went undefeated in the Yale Cup and spent the season in the top 10 of the large school poll. Unstoppable on drives to the basket and also had 39 threes on 30 percent shooting. Burgard transfer finished with 1,208 points. He has several prep school and community college options.
Domonique JacksonEast, 6-3 junior forward
PPG: 18.0 Reb.: 5.7 Assts.: 4.0
East knew it could go to Gary for scoring, and it knew it could go to Jackson for that — and everything else. Outstanding all-around player is a scoring and rebounding force inside while he also stepped out to hit 48 threes on 39 percent shooting. Averaged 4.0 steals and nearly a block a game as a downright dominating defender.
Jason NorsenFrontier, 6-6 senior center
PPG: 20.0 Reb.: 12.8 Blocks: 4.0
A third-teamer last year, he was counted on more this year and came through with astounding field goal shooting (175 of 265, 67 percent) and school records in rebounds (296) and blocks (90). A career double-double (15.7, 10.8) added up to 1,058 career points and 729 rebounds (school record); 272 blocks is also a school mark.
Keron BriggsSweet Home, 5-9 junior guard
PPG: 21.6 Assts.: 5.5 Steals: 4.25
Point man of the Panthers' 20-2 season and ECIC II title. The transfer from Cardinal O'Hara was a one-man show for the Panthers when they needed him to be — including against McKinley (34 points), Williamsville South (32) and the quarterfinals against Hutch-Tech (36). Shared ECIC II top player honors with South's Mark Coppola.
Mark CoppolaWilliamsville South, 5-6 junior guard
PPG: 11.5 Assts.: 8.3 Steals: 2.4
Must-see point guard shared ECIC II Player of the Year honors with Briggs and shares the ball like few other players have. He has 471 career assists (7.6 per game) and will enter his senior year 50 away from the school record. The one-man pressbreaker has a 4.9-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (only 31 turnovers all year).
Third Team
J.C. TretterAkron, 6-4 senior center
PPG: 18.0 Reb.: 13.5 FG%: 57.0
Since his freshman year has been the stalwart center of the Tigers as they climbed to this year's B-2 championship. Carried a 57 percent field-goal percentage his entire four-year career, which included three straight Niagara-Orleans first-team honors. Holds school records of 1,574 points and 1,029 rebounds. Playing football at Cornell.
Blair HeltonCanisius, 6-1 junior guard
PPG: 17.5 Assts.: 6.0 3-pt FG%: 41.0
Smooth shooter and smooth driver did both during one of this postseason's classic performances, a 29-point, five three-pointer game as the Crusaders upended Nichols, 69-60, in the Manhattan Cup championship. Fantastic finisher on the break also has stellar court vision and notches several standout assists a game.
Kenyon EdwardsGrover Cleveland, 6-6 senior center
PPG: 22.1 Reb.: 11.2 Blocks: 1.8
One of the most dynamic players in Western New York, he could use his height to dominate the paint by delivering dunks and blocking shots, could get out and run the floor and had an unselfish streak that included nice interior gives to fellow big man Mike Smith. Headed to ECC or prep school.
Davon MarshallNiagara Falls, 5-11 junior guard
PPG: 16.6 Assts.: 3.1 3-pt FG%: 35.0
If you wanted one player spotting up outside to hit a three, Marshall is your guy. One of the best outside shooters around. Hit 65 three-pointers this season, including seven in one game. All-tournament team selection at the state Class AA final four can also get to the basket and get out on the break.
Ron CanestroNichols, 6-foot junior guard
PPG: 13.6 Assts.: 2.9 Steals: 1.8
Off-balance drives, three-pointers, steals-and-layups, outstanding kickout passes to outside shooters or pretty feeds to the post — Canestro provided plenty of big plays as the Vikings (23-3) spent much of the year at No. 2 in the poll and reached their third straight Manhattan Cup final. Has 1,023 career points.
Fourth Team
You name it, the fearless 6-1 senior did it for the A-2 champion Wildcats: Fiery, vocal leadership, oppressive defense, outstanding effort, creating baskets for teammates. His scoring average went from 9.1 as a junior to 18.7 ppg this season, hitting from three-point range (34 percent) or at the foul line (81 percent).
Probabaly the most dangerous scorer per square inch in Western New York, the 5-foot-6, 145-pound junior guard helped the Red Raiders to another trip to Buffalo State. Rivera continued to be a three-point threat, and quickly got into the lane to somehow finish off acrobatic drives against taller players.
Scoring machine averaged 29.4 points and 6.3 rebounds as he set school records for points in a game (42), season (618) and career (1,785). While not a deciding factor in his selection, he sure made a name for himself as an all-star of all-stars with two straight MVP awards at the Niagara PAL/ACE game.
The 5-10 senior guard was the Player of the Year in ultra-tough ECIC III by averaging 25 points per game; shot 40 percent on threes (he hit 63) and 82 percent at the line. Averaged five assists and less than two turnovers as the main ballhandler. Pitt-Bradford recruit had 41 vs. Frontier, 33 vs. East Aurora, 31 vs. Olean and 1,278 for his career.
The 5-10 senior guard averaged 33 points in five postseason games, lifting the Cardinals to the Class C title with one of the most outstanding performances in recent sectional history. His 47 points (one off the C single-game mark) came largely by swishing indefensible threes (nine in the final).
Honorable mention
(Underclassmen indicated by grade after name)Trevor Short-11 (Akron), Christian Barczykowski-11 (Alden), Marcus Aiello-11 (Allegany-Limestone), Matt Domboski (Allegany-Limestone), Tyler Stevens (Depew), Henry Mingo (East), Stan Wier-9 (East Aurora), Thad Wier (East Aurora), Jonas Stagyla-11 (Grand Island), Chris Holland-10 (Grover Cleveland), Justin Hawkins (Hutch-Tech), Darren Cleveland (Lackawanna), Joe Caporale-12 (Maple Grove), Levi Pace-11 (Medina), Justin Stokes-11 (Middle College), Darale Young-11 (Middle College), Kevin Chillis (McKinley), Michael Crumpton (Niagara Falls), Kenny Stokes-10 (Niagara Falls), Aaron Davis-11 (North Tonawanda), Joe Palumbo-11 (Olean), Ryan Carney-11 (Olean), Alex Moore-11 (Olean), James Chatmon (Olean), Chris Erdmann (Randolph), Isaiah Jefferson-11 (Riverside), Vince Kazmierczak-11 (St. Mary's/Lancaster), Michael Lumley (St. Mary's School for the Deaf), Roman Brown (South Park), Brock Thomas (Southwestern), Michael Bova-10 (Westfield), Marcus Cuevas (Westfield), Phil Stasiak-10 (Williamsville South), Ethan Baker-11 (Wilson).
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