Fifteen seniors and 15 underclass boys basketball players have earned IBCA/Subway first-team All-State honors for 2013-14, it was announced Thursday (March 27).
Also, 120 additional players were selected as honorable mention IBCA/Subway Senior All-State and 120 additional juniors, sophomores and freshmen were recognized as honorable mention IBCA/Subway Underclass All-State in a process organized by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association and presented by Subway Restaurants of Indiana.
Standouts James Blackmon Jr. of Marion, Trevon Bluiett of Park Tudor and Trey Lyles of Indianapolis Tech, considered by most to be the front-runners for 2014 Indiana Mr. Basketball, are among those picked to the IBCA/Subway Senior First Team.
They are joined by five seniors who along with Bluiett and Lyles will compete in the IHSAA State Finals this weekend -- Jeremie Tyler of Indianapolis Tech, Tyler Wideman of Lake Central, Justin King of Bowman Academy and Bryant McIntosh and Sean Sellers of Greensburg.
Completing the Senior All-State First Team are Aaron Brennan of Guerin Catholic, Trevion Crews of Fort Wayne North, Ernie Duncan of Evansville Harrison, Jacob Johnson of Mooresville, Zach McRoberts of Carmel, Tayler Persons of Kokomo and P.J. Thompson of Brebeuf Jesuit.
The IBCA/Subway Underclass First Team features one player from a State Finalist -- junior Davon Dillard of Bowman Academy -- as well as 12 more juniors and two sophomores.
Joining Dillard on the Underclass All-State First Team juniors are Gary Bonds of Indianapolis Scecina, Harris Brown of Indianapolis Howe, Ryan Cline of Carmel, Hyron Edwards of East Chicago Central, Jordan Geist of Penn, Brennan Gillis of Ben Davis, Drew Hackett of Munster, Matt Holba of Guerin Catholic, Joel Okafor of Richmond, Chris Palombizio of Chesterton, Josh Speidel of Columbus North and K.J. Walton of Brownsburg.
The Underclass All-State sophomores are Eron Gordon of North Central and Caleb Swanigan of Homestead.
The IBCA all-state teams are selected in a process where all IBCA-member head coaches have the opportunity to nominate top players from schools in the traditional regional structure of the non-class tournament format. Representatives from each of those 16 regional areas, plus six at-large representatives (two each from IHSAA Districts 1, 2 and 3), then meet to review those nominations, vote and finalize the selections.
Subway Restaurants of Indiana once again is making a financial contribution to the IBCA Scholarship Fund as the presenting partner of the IBCA all-state teams. As part of the partnership, Subway also will provide plaques to first-team honorees and certificates to players receiving honorable mention recognition. Those items will be available to each recipient's coach at the annual IBCA Clinic in April, allowing her coach to present the award to each player at her school.
The IBCA thanks Subway Restaurants for being a partner in this annual project.
The complete 2014 IBCA/Subway Senior All-State and 2014 IBCA/Subway Underclass All-State teams for boys basketball are listed below.
Local players recognized:
First Team
Justin King, Bowman Academy
Tyler Wideman, Lake Central
Honorable Mention
Brandon Adkins, Washington Township
Larry Crisler, Hammond Noll
Matt Dvorscak, Whiting
Josh Fleming, La Porte
Arthur Haggard, Bowman Academy
Gage Ott, La Porte
Keenan Simmons, Michigan City
Cole Teal, Chesterton
Zach VanHook, Lowell
2014 IBCA/SUBWAY BOYS UNDERCLASS ALL-STATE
First Team
Davon Dillard, Bowman Academy
Hyron Edwards, East Chicago Central
Drew Hackett, Munster
Chris Palombizio, Chesterton
Honorable Mention
Chase Braden, Morgan Township
Jordan Collazo, Portage
Ryan Fazekas, Marquette Catholic
Bryce Hanaway, Hebron
Damien Jefferson, East Chicago Central
Nick Jeffirs, Crown Point
Brian Patterson, Lake Station
Antonio Poole, Hammond