The Herald releases its 2022 boys basketball All-Area teams and honorable mentions
Looking back on it, the 2021-22 boys basketball season witnessed a lot.
It saw the emergence of Catawba Ridge — a program that in three years, under the tutelage of Region 3-4A Coach of the Year Brett Childers, has transformed into a top-10 South Carolina 4A basketball team.
It saw the sustenance of Northwestern and South Pointe. The Trojans had a stellar season under first-year coach Caleb Gaither and won a playoff game. The Stallions made a run in the playoffs, too — falling two points short of a second consecutive 4A Upper State title appearance.
Class 1A Great Falls made another deep run in the playoffs. Class 5A Fort Mill and 2A Andrew Jackson did, too.
But the story that most intersected with history in the 2021-22 season belonged to York Prep. And that history is what tipped the scales in The Herald’s end-of-year award selections: Larry Davis has been named the 2022 All-Area Coach of the Year, and Kory Davis has been named the 2022 All-Area Player of the Year.
The older Davis has built quite the program in his four years at the Rock Hill public charter school. And this season was a huge milestone: The coach’s team went undefeated in the regular season and won the Region 4-2A championship. They beat the best teams from other states, including some top teams from Charlotte and the No. 1 team from West Virginia. They even hung tough and eventually escaped with a two-point regular-season win over Irmo — one of the best teams from 4A this year — and made a playoff run all the way to the 2A state championship game in Aiken.
They did all this thanks to their fun, fast and disciplined brand of basketball. And one of the players who made that brand so potent was POY Kory Davis. The senior point guard — who is the twin brother of his backcourt mate, Kendall, and the son of his coach, Larry — averaged 22.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 3.6 steals a game in the regular season. He was also an All-State selection in 2021-22.
“To put that jersey on and go out and perform like they did, it was exciting to see throughout the course of the year,” Davis told The Herald after a huge, regular-season finale win over Buford. “They maintained focus, maintained effort and a sense of togetherness.”
Here’s a look at the rest of the 2021-22 All-Area awards that spotlight the best high school boys basketball players from York, Chester and Lancaster counties.
ALL-AREA BOYS BASKETBALL
Player of the Year: Kory Davis
Coach of the Year: Larry Davis
FIRST TEAM
Kory Davis, York Prep.
Grayson Kirk, Lancaster. Region 3-4A was exceptional this year. At different points, it boasted three of the top-10 teams in South Carolina 4A basketball — South Pointe, Lancaster and Catawba Ridge. And Kirk was a big reason why: The junior guard averaged 17.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, four assists and three steals a game. The All-Region and All-State selection helped his team to a 20-7 overall record in 2021-22.
Kyle Neibch, Fort Mill. Head coach Dwayne Hartsoe subbed his star-shooting senior out with under a minute left of his final game as a high school basketball player so the crowd would give him a standing ovation. And Neibch deserved it. The senior guard averaged 15.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and two steals a game en route to his team making it to the 5A state quarterfinals. He’s also a 1,000-point scorer and was named the Region 3-5A Player of the Year in 2021-22.
Quan Peterson, South Pointe. Peterson is heading to the ACC to play football next year. But he proved he was quite the basketball player in 2021-22. The 6-foot-2 point guard averaged 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game en route to being named an All-State selection and the Region 3-4A Player of the Year as a senior. Peterson will end his career at South Pointe as a four-time All-Region player and a two-time All-State player.
Lawrence Bartee, Clover. The senior 6-foot-10 center was always at the center of his opponents’ game plans, and the attention he grabbed elevated the rest of the Clover team that seized a share of the Region 3-5A title. Bartee finished the year averaging 8.9 points, nine rebounds and 3.1 blocks a game — which was enough to make him an All-Region, All-State and NC/SC Carolinas Classic All-Star game selection. He’ll play college basketball at Winthrop in 2022-23.
SECOND TEAM
Ca’Darrius Sowell, Andrew Jackson. Saying the Volunteers will miss their starting point guard next year is a huge understatement. In his senior season, Sowell averaged 25.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists and two steals a game en route to his team making the 2A Upper State title game. The 1,000-plus-point scorer took home a ton of end-of-year awards, too. Among those accolades: 2A All-State Player of the Year and Region 4-2A Player of the Year.
Kendall Davis, York Prep. The Davis twins at York Prep, in many ways, were different sides of the same coin. As their father/coach once explained it: “Kendall plays the game with his mind, whereas Kory plays it with his body, with his athleticism.” In any case, Kendall was uniquely valuable to YPA. He finished the regular season averaging 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.1 steals a game. He also led the team with over 40 charges drawn — a staple in the YPA defense.
Jaden Hicklin, South Pointe. The senior 6-foot-3 player — who’s built like a forward and has the ball-handling skills and scoring instinct of a guard — averaged 15.1 points and 8.7 rebounds a game in 2021-22. He was also an All-Region selection.
Marcus Kell, Legion Collegiate. Legion played a schedule of mostly North Carolina teams this season. But the Lancers’ big man made himself known in Rock Hill regardless. The 6-foot-7 Western Carolina commit averaged 23.1 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.66 blocks a game in 2021-22.
Omari Bryson, Northwestern. The Trojans had a balanced, talented team in 2021-22. And one of their steadiest and most trusted players was their 6-foot senior point guard. Bryson, an All-Region selection, averaged 13.8 points a game for a team that made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing a close one to Dorman on the road.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Jayden Boyd (Northwestern), Jecari Bryson (Northwestern), Jalen Burnett (Northwestern), Will Brooks (Northwestern), Quadeir Hand (Nation Ford), Jaylon Hoover (Clover), Dylan Rupert (Clover), Zy Brown (York), Drew Hardin (Indian Land), Nywun Cloud (Great Falls), Tali Coleman (Great Falls), Foxx Moore (Great Falls), Aaden Fair (Great Falls), Gabe Tooper (Fort Mill), Waymond Jenerette (South Pointe), Grant Lovette (Catawba Ridge), Zyan Hager (Catawba Ridge), Ladarian McCree (York Prep), DJ Barksdale (York Prep), Brenton Elliott (York Prep), Jevon Long (York Prep), Ke’Mari Boyd (Rock Hill), Lex Reynolds (Rock Hill), Tanas Watkins (Andrew Jackson), Jordan Watford (Lancaster), Ladarius Cloud (Lancaster), Jy Gladden (Lancaster).
The Herald has published its other winter sports All-Area teams, too, earlier this week. The wrestling All-Area teams were published online Tuesday morning, and the girls basketball All-Area teams ran online Wednesday.
Sam Copeland and Jay Edwards contributed reporting.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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