Numbers can often be deceiving.
For James Monroe’s Eli Allen they’re instead a perfect illustration of who he is as a player.
An anomaly in Class A as a 6-foot-3 point guard that averages 20.2 points, 9.3 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game, the two-time all-stater was a terror for opposing teams. The entire state of West Virginia got to see that firsthand as he helped lead the Mavericks on a dominant run that ended with a 28-0 record and a state championship.
For his efforts, Allen has been named the inaugural Lootpress Boys Basketball Offensive Player of the Year by the Lootpress sports writers.
“We had a few people that asked if those statistics were real,” James Monroe head coach Matt Sauvage laughed. “After the state tournament they contacted me and said Eli’s legit. There’s no made up stats on that cat – he’s tough!”
By the end of the season even opposing coaches recognized his brilliance and talent. St. Joseph head coach Todd Maynard, whose team lost to Allen and the Mavericks in the state semifinals, was effusive in his praise.
“The Allen kid is just a phenomenal, phenomenal player,” Maynard said after the loss to James Monroe. “He’s the real deal. He may be, I would say he’s probably in the top two players in the state.”
Allen erupted on to the scene last season, helping the Mavericks become one of the top teams in the state, but they fell short of their goal of making it to the state tournament, losing to Greenbrier West in the Region 3 co-final.
Already one of the top players in the state, Allen found a new gear in the offseason.
“I don’t think he’s even scratched his ceiling,” Sauvage said. “His ceiling is still really high. He bought into the weight room this past offseason and I know it doesn’t look like he’s put on a ton of weight, but he’s put on a lot of muscle weight and that helped him. Of course he plays ball all year long. The biggest thing with Eli, and some people see it but a lot of people don’t, but he sees the game so much faster than anybody else. It slows down in his mind but the game is so fast. And so he’s able to read it before anybody else can figure it out. That’s why he passes so well. He sees what’s going to happen before the defender even reacts. His mental game is very strong.”
At times Allen was a cheat code for the Mavericks.
His ability to grab a rebound at one end and run the fast break discombobulated defenses and opened up opportunities for his teammates. He was able to routinely fit passes into the tightest windows to set his teammates up, but he wasn’t limited to succeeding in organized chaos. In the half court he was stellar, finding fellow first-team all-stater Shad Sauvage on the arc and collapsing the defense with his drives to get open looks for Cameron Thomas, Collin Fox and Josh Burks.
“To put up those triple-double numbers you have to be unselfish,” Sauvage said. “We told him we need the points, but we also need the assists and rebounds. So we asked him how he could make the people around him better and that’s what he did. On the offensive side of he ball he made everybody around him better. He was one of the better offensive players in the state, but even with that he’s still got a higher ceiling. There’s still more to come.”
Allen will be honored at the Spring Lootpress Awards Banquet – along with the other winter and spring sports award winners – on Saturday, May 28 at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. He will also receive a $500 scholarship from the Lootpress Foundation.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
