Los Alamitos' Eyassu Worku is 2016 Press-Telegram boys basketball Dream Team Player of the Year

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: EYASSU WORKU, Los Alamitos, Senior

“Thank you so much for the honor,” Los Alamitos High School senior and UC Irvine signee Eyassu Worku said when told he was this year’s Press-Telegram Dream Team Player of the Year.

In truth, Worku has piled up more awards and honors this year than he could possibly have room to store in his Irvine dorm next fall. Worku has already been named the Sunset League Player of the Year and the Orange County Register’s Player of the Year.

None of these honors are surprising given that Worku averaged just more than 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game. He led Los Al to a CIF Southe Section Open Division berth and the quarterfinals of the CIF State division playoffs as well as an undefeated Sunset League championship.

There’s no doubt that Worku was the best player in the area from start to finish this season with a startingly complete game that saw him score off the dribble, on drives and knocking down shots from the perimeter. But what truly sets Worku apart is the body of his work at Los Al.

Worku played 119 games for the Griffins over the last four years and piled up 1,777 points, good enough for highest career total in school history, breaking Landry Fields’ record. In his four-year career he shot 44 percent from the field and 78 percent from the free-throw line.

Beyond the contributions he made on the stat sheet, Griffins coach Eddie Courtemarche was just as thrilled with Worku’s career as a leader. In fact, the coach speaks of Worku in a tone men usually reserve for their children.

“I will never coach another player like Eyassu,” he said. “As far as I’m conceed he’s not once in a generation, he’s once in a lifetime. We leaned on him a lot this year and he did everything we asked him to do.”

His coach isn’t the only one who’s come to respect Worku this season. He’s an old-school kid in a new-school world, a player who’s young for his grade in a prep basketball scene filled with holdouts.

“I actually was thinking about getting held back,” Worku said this year. “But I told myself that I want kids to look at me and realize you don’t have to be held back. You don’t have to be a 17 year-old sophomore playing basketball to do well.”

What a player needs, of course, is a relentless work ethic, something else Worku brought to the table (fittingly given his last name). Courtemarche said that Worku set the standard in practices as well as games, but avoided the “lone wolf” mentality of a Kobe Bryant. He was the most talented and hardest working player on his team, but still remained a friendly and popular leader.

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All of that adds up to a special player, and an easy choice for this year’s Dream Team Player of the Year. Now the player and his coach will have to figure out what’s harder: finding room in a UC Irvine dorm room for a trunk full of awards, or trying to replace Worku.

COACH OF THE YEAR: GARY LENOIR, Lynwood

Gary Lenoir led his alma mater to its best season in at least a decade as the Knights claimed the San Gabriel Valley League championship, their first since the 2004-05 season, which was a shared title. His 23-7 Knights also advanced to the CIF Southe Section championship game for the first time in 20 years, though they fell just short of their first title since 1976.

Lenoir said coaching at Lynwood was a calling for him.

“It’s just a love for my city,” said Lenoir, who was bo and reared in the city. “I went to elementary school, junior high and high school here. My brother played at Lynwood with Eaest Killum, I’ve been around Lynwood basketball since fourth grade.”

Even more impressive for the Knights is that they accomplished all that with just one senior eaing meaningful minutes. The team’s two best players were a freshman and a sophomore.

FIRST TEAM

WAYNE ARNOLD, Dominguez, Sophomore, Guard

Dominguez’s Wayne Aold leads a Dream Team youth movement that has see five of the area’s best players retuing next year. Based on pure potential and recruiting interest, Aold may end up being the biggest name of anyone on the team, a 6-foot-3 shooter who can also drive the ball. But he also has the maturity to have been named a captain in his 10th grade year. Aold entered the year with offers from Cal and USC and will only add to that list as he improves.

HARRISON BONNER, Long Beach Poly, Senior, Guard

Harrison Boer may not have made the biggest splash in the stat book, but the senior’s cerebral man-to-man defense is what eaed him a spot on the list. Arguably the area’s best on-ball perimeter defender, Boer held multiple NCAA Division 1 signees to their worst offensive performance of the year this season. He also started every game for Poly and averaged 12.3 points per game; Boer was an all-CIF Division 1AA honoree.

KEITH CARLTON, Lynwood, Sophomore, Guard

The team position could just as easily have gone to Carlton’s point guard, breakout freshman Oscar Lopez, but Carlton stepped up in crunch time all year for the Knights, including a driving layup to beat Dominguez at the buzzer. Carlton averaged 20.3 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game and three assists per game. The diminutive shooter helped lead the Knights to the CIF-SS championship game and he and Lopez will have two more seasons together to try and get back there. Carlton was named first team all-CIF in Division 2A.

JAVVONTIE JACKSON, Compton, Senior, Forward

The Long Beach State signee and his partner in crime, Raysean Scott, did it all at Compton. When coach Tony Thomas put together a dream list of accomplishments, it might have seemed unrealistic. After all, Compton hadn’t won a CIF-SS title since 1968 or a Moore League title since the graduation of NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan. But last year, Jackson and Scott led the Tarbabes to a CIF-SS title and this year they shared the league title with Poly. Jackson averaged 16 points per game and eight rebounds per game.

EVAN LEONARD, Cerritos, Senior, Forward

In an era dominated by transfers and shifting allegiances, the captain stayed loyal to Cerritos. A UC Irvine signee, Leonard played for a team that didn’t win a league title during his high school career. He chose to stay home and work on his craft and it paid off big-time. In his senior season he exploded with 22.5 points and eight rebounds per game, both team highs. He showed off his all-around game with 2.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game. Leonard was an all-CIF selection.

RAYSEAN SCOTT, Compton, Senior, Forward

Raysean Scott helped lead Compton to historic heights his junior and senior seasons as the Tarbabes won the CIF-SS Division 2A title last year and a share of the Moore League title with Long Beach Poly this year; their first in nearly a decade. Scott has signed a scholarship with Florida Gulf Coast and will bring off-the-charts athleticism and a nose for the ball on the boards in the NCAA. He led the way in two categories for Compton this year, averaging 18 points per game and 12 rebounds per game. He was especially a terror on the offensive glass.

C.J. SMITH, Downey, Senior, Forward

C.J. Smith eaed first team all-CIF honors with a breakout performance in the postseason. The Vikings finished the season 20-10 and made the quarterfinals, thanks in large part to the efforts of Smith, who averaged 16.3 points per game and 8.1 rebounds per game this season. He led his team in both categories as well as blocks.

OFURE UJADUGHELE, Millikan, Sophomore, Forward

One of the top breakout youngsters in Long Beach this year was Ofure Ujadughele at Millikan. The sophomore eaed first team all-CIF honors in Division 1AA for his all-around game. Reminiscent of Poly’s Zafir Williams as a sophomore, Ujadughele averaged 16.5 points per game and 11.2 rebounds per game for the Rams, leading them in both categories. He helped Millikan make the quarterfinals this year in the 1AA bracket.

J.J. WATSON, St. John Bosco, Junior, Guard

J.J. Watson led the Braves to a 21-10 record and a quarterfinal appearance in the CIF-SS Division 1AA playoffs, where they lost to eventual champion J.W. North. Watson was the top player all year for the Braves. He was one of just two players to suit up for every game. He led the team with 20.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He also led the team in steals and was second in assists.

ZAFIR WILLIAMS, Long Beach Poly, Junior, Forward

The ruer-up for Dream Team Player of the Year will headline a large crop of retuing talent in 2016-17. Williams has evolved into a monster on the court. He was named the CIF-SS Division 1AA player of the year, Williams averaged 19.3 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game, proving nearly unstoppable in the paint and also as an accurate trail 3-point shooter. The junior hasn’t received any scholarship offers yet, but that should change as the spring and summer roll on.

SECOND TEAM

CHRIS BARNES, Compton, Senior, Guard

JAMAL BOGAN, Lynwood, Junior, Forward

MARVIN BRAGG, Gahr, Junior, Guard/Forward

STEDMON BRYANT, Valley Christian, Senior, Guard

DREW BUGGS, Long Beach Poly, Senior, Guard

IAN CARTER, La Mirada, Senior, Forward

MASON DICKERSON, Millikan, Senior, Guard

OSCAR LOPEZ, Lynwood, Freshman, Guard

DARRYL POLK, Long Beach Poly, Sophomore, Guard

MAKANI WHITESIDE, St. John Bosco, Freshman, Guard

HONORABLE MENTION

JUSTIN CHAMBERS, Millikan, Junior, Guard

JOHN DUFF, Long Beach Poly, Junior, Forward

PEPE GARCIA, Los Alamitos, Senior, Guard

TORIEAUN HILBERT, Jordan, Senior, Guard

RONALD MASSEY, Valley Christian, Senior, Forward

MIKE MAGEE, Cabrillo, Senior, Guard

VITTORIO REYNOSO-AVILA, La Mirada, Senior, Guard

KYLE SMALL, Mayfair, Junior, Guard

SUDAN THOMS, Jordan, Sophomore, Forward

JOE TATE, Lynwood, Junior, Forward

DANTE WILLIAMS, St. Anthony, Senior, Guard

LEAGUE CHAMPS:

Moore League: Long Beach Poly, Compton

San Gabriel Valley League: Lynwood

Sunset League: Los Alamitos

Suburban League: La Mirada