VaPreps 4A All-State Hoops Teams for 2015-16

VirginiaPreps.com is proud to release our 8th Annual All-State Basketball Teams.

There are a total of 12 honors with six players, including a Player of the Year, for First Team and six more on the Second Team.

So what are the factors that go into the choices that are made? All selections are made by me with no consultation of the coaches simply because that’s what the VHSCA Teams are designed for in my opinion. However, we try to study individual statistics (some supplied by coaches upon request) as well as factor into the equation team success and overall impact.

Once everything is weighed, we try to blend it all together and make the best choices possible, even though there’s no such thing as a perfect team or right and wrong picks.

It’s never an easy process because there are always many deserving players who don’t get recognized on First or Second Team.

Without further ado, here’s the VirginiaPreps.com 4A All-State Basketball Teams for the 2015-16 campaign with bios on each player . . .

4A First Team:
Jermaine Marrow - Heritage - Sr.
Kuony Deng - John Champe - Sr.
Travius Smith - Lake Taylor - Sr.
Greg Parham - Monacan - Jr.
Nick Ball - Loudoun Valley - Jr.
Musah Sackor - Eastern View - Sr.

Player of the Year: Jermaine Marrow (Heritage)
Coach of the Year: R.J. Spelsberg (Monacan)

4A Second Team:
Damon Childress - William Byrd - Sr.
Jason Wade - Hanover - Jr.
Ryan Jones - Smithfield - Jr.
Dom Fragala - John Champe - Jr.
Patrick Robinson - GW-Danville - Jr.
Nick Parks - Monacan - Sr.

Returning to Heritage for his senior season after playing the year before at New Hope Christian Academy in North Carolina, Marrow put forth one dazzling offensive display after another as the Hurricanes earned their first State Tournament berth since 2003. The Hampton University commit led all Group 4A players with 703 points, an average of 30.5 per contest.

Furthermore, Marrow averaged 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.8 steals per game as Heritage won the Ironclad Conference 18 Tournament crown and and finished with a record of 15-9 overall - an improvement from their 13-10 finish that saw a first round regional playoff exit the year before.

Marrow was named First Team All-State along with 4A-East Region Player of the Year and Ironclad Conference Player of the Year. On three occasions, he scored 40-plus points and that included a 43-point effort in an elimination game at Smithfield in the conference tourney semifinals.

A 6-foot-6 senior forward who plans to play both College Basketball and College Football at VMI, Deng was named the Virginia High School League's State Player of the Year for Group 4A. He averaged 19.5 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.0 blocks per game for a Knights team that finished 23-5 overall with their first ever appearance in the State Tournament Final Four.

Also selected as Conference 22 Player of the Year and 4A-West Region Player of the Year, Deng had one of his finest moments in the Glory Days Grill Tournament of Championships when he posted 32 points and six blocks to propel John Champe past Lake Braddock, a Group 6A school. Deng closed out his Champe career with 1433 points, 786 rebounds and 228 blocks.

Behind the flashy playmaking skills of Smith, the Titans enjoyed their first regional title since 1983 and won 14 consecutive games at one point. That culminated in the Norfolk school's appearance in the State Championship game. In their 70-59 win over Heritage for the 4A-East Region Tournament crown, the 6-foot-3 senior small forward finished with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

Named Conference 17 Player of the Year and First Team All-Region as well as First Team All-State by both the VHSCA and VHSL, Smith averaged 15 points per game. He also put up 9.0 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game for a Titans team that closed out the season 24-5 overall.

Parham, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, was chosen as the VHSCA 4A State Player of the Year after helping the Chiefs capture their first State Championship. They did so following just a 4-4 start to the season, proceeding to go 17-5 over their next 22 contests. In the State Championship game, Monacan trailed by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, but rallied for a 57-53 win over Lake Taylor with Parham's three-pointer tying the contest late.

As a junior, Parham shared Conference 20 Player of the Year honors with Dinwiddie's Jalyn Jarrett and Hanover's Jason Wade en route to being selected First Team All-Region. He averaged 11.8 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 53% from the field (124-of-235) and 44% behind the arc (36-of-82).

The 6-foot-tall junior guard averaged 15.2 points per game and made 77-of-108 free-throws (71.3%). His play not only earned him First Team All-State recognition by the VHSCA and being named First Team All-Region, but spearheaded a 26-0 start for Loudoun Valley that turned out to be the best in program history.

In the 4A-West Region Championship, Ball scored a game-high 31 points to propel the Vikings past John Champe 95-74. That gave Chad Dawson his first regional title in 13 seasons as Head Coach.

This 6-foot-6 senior forward was a model of consistency all season long for the Cyclones, who finished 25-2 overall and earned their first ever trip to the State Tournament. Sackor was named the Conference 19 Player of the Year with averages of 14 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals per game while shooting 60% from the field.

Even though Sackor had to adjust to playing for a third different Head Coach in as many seasons, he didn't let that discourage him from becoming one the biggest matchup problems in the state under Patrick Thornhill. He was also chosen First Team All-State by the VHSCA and First Team All-Region.

Few could've expected Monacan High School to pull off the Daily Double on March 9th with State Championships in both Girls Basketball and Boys Basketball. Sure, the girls team was seeking its second in a row and got it by beating William Fleming in convincing fashion. But the boys team had never been to the State Tournament Final Four before and won 11 games just the year before, Spelsberg's first at the helm.

Spelsberg, 41, came to Monacan after coaching stints at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot, the Steward School and Maggie Walker, where he spent six years as the Governor School's Head Coach when the basketball program started. In 2015-16, the Chiefs re-grouped from a 4-4 start and answered a pair of region playoff losses to Lake Taylor and Eastern View by winning three straight State Tournament games over Loudoun Valley, GW-Danville and Lake Taylor to close the season 21-9 overall.

Named First Team All-State by the Virginia High School Coaches Association, Childress quickly let it be known that he was one of the top shooters around when he finished with 35 points and made 11 three-pointers in a December win over Bassett. In that game, he made seven three-pointers in the third quarter alone.

Few had an answer for the 6-foot-2 senior guard who averaged 19.9 points, 4.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game for the Terriers. Childress' 101 made three-pointers was tops among all Group 4A players, helping the Conference 24 Tournament Champs go 20-8 overall and a earn spot in the State Playoffs.

For the second year in a row, Wade was named First Team All-Conference 20, although this past season he shared Player of the Year honors with Monacan's Greg Parham and Dinwiddie's Jalyn Jarrett. The 6-foot-4 junior was also chosen First Team All-State by the VHSCA.

Wade, who is the son of former Old Dominion University standout Ronnie Wade, played the point forward position for most of the season for the Hawks and filled the stat sheet while becoming just the third player in Hanover school history to eclipse 1000 career points. A couple of his standout performances included 31 points in a win over Midlothian as well as a near triple-double of 30 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in a victory over Armstrong.

Jones was the stabilizer for a Packers team that had to deal with a couple of key injuries - including one to two-sport standout Chris Pierce - and managed to win all 18 games that they played against Bay Rivers District opponents. The 19-4 finish marked arguably the most successful season for Smithfield since they last made the State Tournament Final Four back in 1975.

The 6-foot-tall guard averaged 15.1 points, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game as a junior. Perhaps most meaningful was that Jones, pegged First Team All-Region and Second Team All-State by the VHSL, limited his mistakes (just 1.5 turnovers per contest) and proved to be a quality defender on a team known for its prolific offense that put up 69.3PPG.

Transferring to John Champe from Bishop O'Connell right before the start of the season, Fragala averaged 18.3 points per game and sank a team-best 67 three-pointers. It didn't end there as he shot 86.3% from the foul line (126-of-146), serving that the Knights had another weapon to complement two-sport stars Kuony Deng and Zack Burdick on the basketball court.

One of Fragala's best performances came in an overtime loss to Handley, where he lit it up for 41 points and seven three-pointers. Additionally, the Second Team All-Region performer scored a game-high 22 points in the Knights' 76-69 loss to Lake Taylor in the State Tournament Final Four, following up his 21-point outing vs. Eastern View in the quarters. Fragala scored in double-figures in 24 of 26 games.

In many ways, the 6-foot-2 junior guard was a jack-of-all-trades for the Eagles. He averaged a team-high 13.6 points per game to go with 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. That garnered him Second Team All-Region honors in 4A-West.

Robinson shot 54% from the field (148-of-276), plus showed he can do damage inside or out by getting to the foul line 123 times - most by any GW-Danville player on the season - and his 26 three-point makes was second on the squad behind only senior Isaiah Bethel. Simply put, his presence helped the Eagles considerably as they earned their third consecutive State Tournament Final Four berth.

One can make a good case that Monacan doesn't win a State Championship, their first, without the offensive talents - particularly the shot-making - of Parks. On a team that placed four individuals on the All-Conference First Team, Parks was the top scorer at 12.7 points per game to go with 3.9 rebounds 2.5 assists and 2.3 steals a contest.

The 6-foot-2 senior wing headed to play his College Basketball for Division III Christopher Newport University sank 73 three-pointers and converted 76% of his free-throw tries (55-of-72). In the State Tournament, there was no drop-off and rather an increase to 14.3 points per game and he made 55.6% of his field goal tries with defenses looking to deny him clean perimeter looks.

Matthew Hatfield serves as State Basketball Analyst for VirginiaPreps.com, part of the Rivals.com Network. Check out Hatfield's Twitter page for more sports related updates, and you can also read his work in the Suffolk News Herald. To contact Matthew, please e-mail hatfieldsports2k4@yahoo.com, and don't forget to listen to him every Saturday at 10AM on ESPN Radio 94.1, plus watch him on the Cox 11 Sports Report.