The Herald, Sharon,
PA Published Sunday, April 6, 1997

WINTER SPORTS Boys basketball
player photo

Amos Upshaw
Grove City

player photo

Steve Bowers
West Middlesex

player photo

Ryan Oman
Greenville

player photo

Steve Meling
Slippery Rock


player photo

Player of the Year: Geoff Evans
Hickory


The '96-97 season
had great moments


The 1997 Fabulous 15 By Jeff Greenburg
Herald Assistant Sports Editor

While the 1996-97 basketball season didn't provide Mercer County with any state championships, it certainly provided area fans with many lasting memories.

Among them: the resurgence of programs in Greenville, West Middlesex and Reynolds; Hickory's Geoff Evans' run at the county scoring record; Kennedy Christian's near-miss at a berth in the PIAA Class A championship game, and Commodore Perry's first-ever win over Kennedy.

And The Herald hopes to add to those memories with the publication of its first Fabulous 15.

Following are the selections for boys basketball, including coach, team and player of the year.

FAB 5

Since the 1950s and perhaps even earlier, the area has consistently been known for its outstanding basketball talent.

This season was no different.

And while there were many superb players, these five stood head and shoulders above the rest:

  • Geoff Evans, Hickory (Player of the Year) -- Evans, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, was a second-team all-state selection as a junior and a third-team pick as a sophomore.

    One of the county's most versatile players in the last decade, Evans finished his sparkling career under coach Bill Dzuricsko with 1,968 points -- only 14 shy of county record-holder Brian Brush of Sharpsville -- 846 rebounds, 262 assists, 235 steals and 132 blocked shots.

    ``It's a good honor to become the first player of the year,'' Evans said. ``It's an honor coming from The Herald since they've given me a lot of good press through my career, so I'm very happy to receive that honor.''

    Evans, showing he could play outside as well as inside, also canned a county-record 205 career 3-pointers.

    This past season, he not only wrested the school's career scoring mark from Terry Ogden (1,361), but also took Ogden's single-game mark (42) when he pumped in 43 points in a win over Slippery Rock. Evans also tallied a school-record 652 points -- 9th-best in county history -- while his per-game average of 25.077 was 5th-best.

    In his four years, Evans played on two PIAA Class AAA Western Region finalists and four playoff squads, and his Hornets won or shared four Mercer County Athletic Conference AAA titles.

    ``I'm very happy with my season and with my last four years,'' Evans said. ``It's been a great run.''

    A run that will continue for Evans at Division I Boston University, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament this year.

    ``I was very happy to see they got into `the dance' this year, because nobody's really known about them and everybody was asking me about them,'' Evans said. ``And finally, they got their chance. They had a great season this year and, hopefully, we can do better next year.''

    With Evans on board, that's a distinct possibility.

    Evans has also been selected as a member of the Western Pennsylvania squad for the upcoming Rising Star Classic in New Castle.


  • Ryan Oman, Greenville -- The only underclassmen on the team, the 6-foot-5 junior swingman was one of the primary reasons behind the resurgence of coach Kelly Jones' Trojans basketball program.

    Oman, one of the area's top passers, averaged 13.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game as the MCAC AA Trojans won their first-ever District 10 championship, their first league championship in more than 20 years, and advanced to the state playoffs for the first time in more than a decade.

    Oman connected on 45.4 percent of his field goal attempts, including a remarkable 44 percent from behind the arc.

    With 658 career points, Oman should become the school's third 1,000-point scorer next season and could make a run at the school career scoring mark (1,153), held by John Prebula ('63-64 to '65-66).


  • Steve Bowers, West Middlesex -- This 6-foot-3 senior forward totaled 575 points -- 3rd-best in school history -- 262 rebounds and 56 assists to lead coach Larry Ellison's MCAC Class A Big Reds to their first league crown of any kind since 1969.

    Bowers, a professional baseball prospect who arguably was Mercer County's best all-around athlete the past three years, finished his career with 1,029 points -- 5th-best in school annals -- and 554 rebounds.

    He was a key cog behind the Big Reds' advancing to the District 10 Class A championship game and to the state playoffs for the first time since 1990.


  • Amos Upshaw, Grove City -- This 6-foot-6 senior forward averaged 16.7 points while leading coach Don Fee's Eagles to the county's best regular-season record this year and a berth in the state playoffs.

    The agile, lean jumping jack was also a member of The Herald's first The Heralded 22 All-Star Football Team last December -- one of only two area athletes selected to both teams -- and could have played football or basketball collegiately.

    Upshaw finished his career with 1,090 points -- 7th-best in school annals -- and more than 700 rebounds.

    He has been offered a basketball scholarship to continue his career at Edinboro University. He is expected to sign Wednesday.

    Upshaw was also selected to compete last week at the Born 2 Run all-star game near Pittsburgh and even won its slam-dunk contest.


  • Shane Meling, Slippery Rock -- This 6-foot-5 senior guard was one of the most prolific scorers in the county the last two seasons. He finished his career with 1,079 points, including 923 the last two years.

    Meling, under the guidance of Mercer legend Bob ``Posey'' Rhoads, averaged 21.3 ppg. as a senior -- second only to Evans in the county -- and 21.7 ppg. as a junior.

    With Meling on board, the Rockets won as many games -- 21 -- the last two years as the program had won in the previous four years.


    team photo
    Moments after the game, members of the Greenville Trojans basketball team celebrate their first District 10 championship. (David E. Dale/Herald)

    COACH OF THE YEAR
    TEAM OF THE YEAR

    The efforts put out by Greenville and its coach Kelly Jones made them near-unanimous choices for these awards.

    But the typically humble Jones was quick to deflect the credit to his players, as is his style.

    ``It wasn't anything I did; it was more what the kids were able to do,'' Jones said. ``We gave them the basic framework, but we didn't want to take away their initiative and individualism and I think that was part of our success. The kids were able to understand what was expected of them, but they also had some latitude and freedom as to how to get those things done.''

    And, boy, did they ever get things done this year.

    The Trojans clinched the MCAC AA title as early as anyone in recent memory, finishing the regular season 9-1 in league play and 19-5 overall.

    ``This is just a special group of athletes,'' Jones said. ``They are more than just athletes. A lot of these kids have been goal-oriented throughout their academic careers, so athletic goals also came along. They seem to go hand-in-hand.''

    As do victories and championships.

    Greenville, which finished the season 22-6 overall, started a memorable run through the playoffs, defeating Vision Quest (60-44), Union City (49-39) in the semifinals, and Cambridge Springs (67-60) in overtime in the D-10 championship game.

    `I think it's a direct reflection of the kids we have in the program,'' Jones said of his team's success. ``We have outstanding character, scholars and citizens. I think it makes my job relatively easy to combine that into sportsmen and athletes.''

    Only a first-round state playoff loss to Farrell snapped the Trojans' hopes of tying the school record of 23 wins set in 1975-76. But the total victories was only the third 20-win season in school annals.

    ``It goes back to positive contributions we had from nine kids,'' Jones said. ``Somebody different fulfilled the roles that needed to be handled on a particular night. A good example of that is eight of those nine players were the leading scorer in at least one game. We didn't have any great scorers, great rebounders or great assist men, but collectively they were able to get the goal accomplished.''




    Back to TOP // Fab 15 main page // Herald Sports // Herald Home page

    Internet service in Mercer County, only $20.95 a month!

    Updated April 7, 1997
    Questions/comments: herald@pgh.net
    For info about advertising on our site or Web-page creation: advertising@sharon-herald.com
    Copyright ©1997 The Sharon Herald Co. All rights reserved.
    Reproduction or retransmission in any form is prohibited without our permission.