It is no secret in Lindside that the James Monroe boys basketball team is playing with a bit of a chip on its shoulder this year.
The motivation comes in large part to a disappointing overtime loss in last year’s Class A Region 3 co-final contest. The Mavericks had compiled a 17-1 record prior to that game.
Mavericks junior guard, Eli Allen admitted prior to the season that he was still stinging from that defeat and his team would take nothing for granted this year.
Over the first week of the season, Allen and his team have made that fact very clear with a pair of lopsided victories to win the Narrows (Va.) Tournament this past weekend.
Allen was named Most Valuable Player after scoring 49 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, while handing out 16 assists to go along with nine steals combined in both games.
For his efforts, Allen has earned the Lootpress Boys Basketball Player of the Week Award, sponsored by Bodyworks and The Law Offices of Brandon Steele.
Exploits on the hardwood are nothing new for Allen who averaged over 12 points per game a freshman, and 17 points per game last year to earn first-team all-state honors.
However, Allen has already shown this year that he is more than just a basketball standout. Playing his first year of high school football, Allen was a key cog in the Mavericks’ return to the playoffs. His play as a defensive back garnered him first team all-state honors announced earlier this month.
The extra strength he built for football season is already paying big dividends.
The junior standout hit the court running last Friday, barely missing a double-double with 29 points and nine assists. He also had six steals and five rebounds to guide James Monroe past Giles, Va., 77-33.
In the championship tilt against the host team, Allen got that elusive double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. He narrowly missed a triple-double with seven assists in an 89-66 triumph.
Allen added an exclamation point on his weekend exploits by recording the first in-game dunk of his career.
The three other candidates for Lootpress Boys’ Basketball Player of the Week were, Allen’s teammate Shad Sauvage along with Oak Hill’s Jacob Perdue and Jaedan Holstein from Shady Spring.
Sauvage scored 51 points and had nine steals over the weekend, while Perdue averaged 17.5 points per game in his two games last week. Holstein scored 14 points and had 12 rebounds in a win over Wyoming East and had seven offensive rebounds in both of the games he played.
