HS’s T.J. Thompson a first-team all-stater

Cottrill captain; MHS’s Runner on second team

Staff, wire reports

THE COMPLETE AAA allstate team is in the Scoreboard. Page 2-C.
The Class AAA boys’ allstate basketball team has been released and six area players made the cut.
The Dominion Post’s twotime Player of the Year, Preston senior T.J. Thompson, was named to the first team, as selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.
“He’s been on a couple of second teams, he deserved first team,” PHS head coach Barry Sanders said. “He’s been a great kid.”
Thompson was secondteam all-state his sophomore and junior seasons.
This year, Thompson eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career, while averaging 20 points, four assists and five rebounds a game for the Knights. According to Sanders, Thompson’s per-game numbers from his senior season are very similar to his sophomore and junior seasons.
“He’s consistent,” Sanders said. “I’ve never had anyone that’s been that consistent over four years.”
Thompson, who has already accepted a full scholarship to play basketball at West Virginia Wesleyan, was also a finalist for the West Virginia Player of the Year award this season.
“All my career I’ve always had a stud of some kind on my team,” Sanders said. “Of all of them, T.J. has the most
probably the most sought after.”
Joining Thompson on the all-state team are teammate and brother Cody Thompson, as well as teammate Colton Goff, both honorable mention. Goff averaged 12 ppg and 12 rpg, Cody Thompson 10.2 ppg.
Named to the second team is Morgantown’s 6-foot-7 senior, Sam Runner, who averaged 15.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg and led the Mohigans to the state tournament.
Runner’s teammates Jordan Barnett (10.6 ppg) and Ryan Parsons (9.9 ppg) made honorable mention. The two combined to hit 65 3-pointers this season for MHS.
Logan point guard Noah Cottrill is the first-team captain. The future WVU Mountaineer has a No. 13 national rating among his fellow position players by Rivals.com, and was ranked as the No. 79 player overall to emerge from the Class of 2010.
Cottrill, 6-foot-3, led Logan to its first Class AAA state championship since 1991, in March, and won the Evans Award as the state’s top prep player.
Cottrill committed to WVU after his freshman season at Class AA Poca. After attending that school for two years, he transferred to Mountain State Academy, in Beckley, before returning to public-school play as a senior.
He averaged 29.2 ppg, 5.8 rpf and 3.3 steals entering the state tournament, where he averaged 25.7 ppg to finish with a career scoring mark of 2,808 points.
Cottrill’s selection as cap- slam dunk. The rest of the all-state team, however, represented the across-the-board parity shown last season.
More than half (13) of the state’s top 24 players suited up for teams that did not reach the state tournament, including five of the eight first-teamers.
Topping that list is another phenom who has already committed to an in-state Division 1 program. Ripley junior guard Chase Fischer (6-4) committed to Marshall in 2008, and led the state in scoring with 32.1 ppg as a junior.
Fischer finished second in player-of-the-year voting.
Wheeling Park junior Kelvin ‘‘Bubby’’ Goodwin was the lone first-team holdover from 2009. He led the Patriots to their first Class AAA championship appearance since 1997. Goodwin, a 6-foot point guard, averaged 19.1 ppg, 5 assists and 3 steals in 2010.
South Charleston junior do-it-all guard Perry Henry (6-4, 16.2 ppg, 8 rpg, 6 apg and 5 steals) has received scholarship offers from WVU, Xavier, Virginia Tech, Marshall and five other Division 1 schools.
Parkersburg South’s Chase Fieler, a 6-8 senior center, averaged 25.3 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 3.1 apg and 3.5 blocked shots. He made 47 percent of his field-goal attempts and was South’s biggest threat from 3-point range, averaging 2.3 makes per game.
Seniors Adam Kline, of Winfield, and Jalen Walker, of Greenbrier East, made the jump from second team to first team.
Kline, a 6-5 center, averaged 20.1 ppg and 11 rpg while shouldering most of Winfield’s offensive burden throughout a 16-8 season. Walker (5-10) was the Mountain State Athletic Conference’s second-leading scorer, behind Fischer, averaging 17.8 ppg.
Wheeling Park junior forward Marqez O’Neal (6-3, 16.1 ppg) was chosen as the secondteam captain. George Washington junior wing DaShawn Badger (6-0, 12.6 ppg) captained the third team.