Your 2015- 2016 All- County boys basketball team

Your 2015- 2016 All- County boys basketball team

Hello once again, basketball fans. This was a red-letter year for hoops in Crittenden County. Don’t believe me?

Look at the stats.

Earle won the eighth state title in school history, closing out an utterly dominant state tournament run with a 20-point win against district rival East Poinsett County.

Marion and West Memphis tied for second place in the 7A/6A-East with identical 9-5 records.

On one hand, the East isn’t what it was during the league’s heyday from 2009-2012, but it was still pretty competitive and it was proven by Cabot’s run to the Class 7A state title.

West Memphis Christian finished 28-7 overall, with a regular season district title to boot. The Black Knights lost a pair of double- overtime thrillers in the postseason, and those tight losses may have been the only reason that they didn’t claim the hardware in those brackets.

So it’s come time to put a bow on the 2015-2016 basketball year with my third edition of The Evening Times’ All-County hoops squad.

Today, I’m going to name my top-12 boys from the county, a task that I soon found to be much harder than I expected.

As always, I’ll have a first-team and a secondteam and will differentiate between the two as we go on.

On Thursday, I will write about my All-County girls team, which is also a very strong squad.

Without further ado, here we go.

2015-2016 All-County First-Team Marcus Brown, Earle A.J. Latham, Marion Tray Doolittle, West Memphis Christian Shaun Doss, Marion Gerry Bohanon, Earle Zachary Byrd, West Memphis Look at this squad. Think about the possibilities with the versatility here.

If I’m the coach, I can play three guards with Latham, Brown and Doolittle.

If I need to go big and kill you on the boards, I’d play two of the three guards, play Doss at the three, slot Byrd at the four and let Bohanon handle the post.

Also impressive is that Byrd and Bohanon were just sophomores this year, so theoretically their best seasons are still in front of them. Made plain, get used to seeing their names in this space.

Nobody plays harder than Brown every night. He’s not even six-feet-tall, but he attacks the rim and is extremely aggressive. He had some truly breathtaking offensive games this year, but to me, his signature game was the regional final against Marked Tree when he and his brother, Marquise, teamed up to cool off the hot LaQuentin Miles en route to a 30point Earle win.

Latham is back after a sublime senior season. He was just a shooter as a sophomore sixth-man at Marion, but has added to his game every, single season. His 31-point game in Little Rock Central to get his Patriots to 4-0 in the league was one of the most dominant games by a guard I’ve ever seen.

Just a sophomore, Doolittle makes the leap to the first-team after garnering second-team honors last year. The lanky Hughes native was the motor for the Black Knights during a stellar season.

Doss is this year’s winner of the Most Improved Player award as his game took a major leap between his sophomore and junior years. Other than Latham, he was Marion’s most consistent performer. He’s comfortable driving to the rim, shooting the jumper and the improvement in his free throw shooting from the time he was a freshman at Marion Junior High to now is absurd. He’s not even the same guy.

Bohanon added a spin move to his offensive repertoire this season, and while he was already tough to stop, it became even harder. Anytime Earle was involved in a fight, the Bulldogs were almost always able to dump it down to him and he usually delivered.

Byrd’s playing time grew as the year went on, and why not? His motor is off the charts and he plays bigger than he is. The most telling moment of Byrd’s year is when Billy Woods asked him if he was in awe of Bentonville star Malik Monk during the state tournament Byrd said that he wasn’t, that player would have to prove that he’s better than him on the court. What a telling quote, and that pretty well sums up the Zach Byrd Experience as a sophomore.

2015-2016 All-County Second-Team Marlon Warren, Marion Marquise Brown, Earle Martinez Harper, West Memphis Christian Donte Garrett, Earle Ahmere Albert, West Memphis Robert Harris, West Memphis Warren’s learning curve after coming over from Hughes was not very steep. He came in and had a few big performances for Marion during the nonconference and led all scorers with 23 points at Lehr Arena as the Pats stopped the Blue Devils. A talent like this on the second team? I told you this squad was stacked.

Marcus Brown’s twin brother, Marquise, missed the first team, but I need him on my team. He’s an energetic defender and loves going to the hoop with the ball.

Harper was the other half of West Memphis Christian’s sophomore standout duo and helped take the pressure off of Doolittle. Outside of Earle, West Memphis Christian may have had the best backcourt in the county, a fact that surely has Black Knight fans excited for the next two seasons.

Garrett had a totally fulfilling end to his varsity career at Earle. He suited up for Earle, Marion and West Memphis Christian during his time, and then he hurt his knee over the summer, but came back as a perimeter stalwart and three-point gunner. He had two of his best performances of the year in the state semifinals and the state final. How can you say no to a guy that gets better when it matters?

Albert helped run the show for the Blue Devils and while his stats may not blow your hair back, when you see his contribution to a good West Memphis team, it makes sense.

Harris, another Hughes transfer, was a solid swingman for West Memphis.

He can shoot, handle and slash while also playing active defense on the other end of the court.

2015-2016 honorable mentions Treyvon Boyce, Earle Billy Murray Jr., Earle Hunter Weathers, West Memphis Christian Kentrale Green, West Memphis Christian Cortez Banks, Earle This group are all winning- type players that had huge contributions to their teams this season.

Unfortunately, we limit our squad to 12 players, but these guys could have all made their cases for a spot.

So thanks for reading. If you agree with me, disagree with me or want to lobby for someone else, hit me on Twitter at ChuckETsports or e-mail me at sports@theveningtimes. com.

Catch a full-color photo spread on page 10 today and don’t miss Thursday when I name my girls All-County team.

Chuck’’s Corrnerr

By Chuck Liiviingstton