On Thursday, two boy’s basketball players from the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference received the honor of being the 2015-16 Gatorade Player of the Year in their respective areas. Gonzaga’s Chris Lykes won the award for the District of Columbia. While, VJ King won the award for the state of Virginia.
The Gatorade Player of the Year award is recognizing the best boys and girl’s basketball players in each state. Some notable players that’s won this award include Jason Kidd, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, and Paul Pierce. Later in the month, the National Gatorade Player of the Year award will be announce.
The way Chris Lykes performed this season, there was no question that he deserved this honor. The 5-foot-8 junior averaged 22.0 points, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 steals per game. The WCAC Player of the Year shot an impressive 47.3 percent from the three-point line and 74.9 percent from the free throw line.
His top performances include scoring 34 points against Roman Catholic on Dec. 13. Scoring 30 points to lead Gonzaga past DeMatha on Jan. 20, and posting a career high 38 points against Bishop O’Connell.
He helped Gonzaga to a 24-10 record and reached the semifinals of the WCAC Playoffs and the DCSAA Tournament. Lykes was also named to the WCAC First-Team.
Chris Lykes is the eighth player in Gonzaga basketball history to be named Gatorade Player of the Year. Other players from Gonzaga that won the award are Bryant Crawford, Nate Britt, Kris Jenkins, Tyler Thornton, Ian Hummer, and Max Kenyi. Chris Lykes becomes the first Gonzaga player since Kris Jenkins to win WCAC and Gatorade Player of the Year in the same season.
He is listed as a three-star guard and ranked as the No. 1 player in Washington, DC by 247sports.com. Right now he holds offers from schools like Notre Dame, Villanova, Georgetown, VCU, Dayton, George Mason and Miami.
Paul VI senior forward VJ King is the first boy’s basketball from Paul VI to win the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year. In the past, mostly player from Oak Hill Academy received the award.
The Louisville commit average 22.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.1 steals per game. He scored 35 points twice this year. In his last game against St. John’s on Mar. 12, VJ finished with 25 points. King was named First Team All-WCAC for the second straight season and led the Panthers to a 20-11 record.
The five-star forward is the No. 21 player in the nation according to Scout.com and will play in the McDonalds All-American game and the Jordan Brand Classic.
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