El Capitan’s Knott named WAC basketball MVP

It was a season of firsts for the El Capitan High School boys basketball team.

The Gauchos won their first league title, going 11-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, and qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the first time.

Always leading the way was Isaiah Knott. The senior point guard led the Gauchos in scoring (15.3), assists (5.8) and steals (4.6) in WAC play and was selected by conference coaches as the WAC MVP.

“It means a lot to me because I put in so much work during the offseason,” Knott said. “I felt all that work really paid off. To be selected for this award is really amazing.”

Knott was at his best in the biggest games for the Gauchos, scoring 27 points in a 69-56 win over Patterson in the teams’ first matchup.

“There were six categories coaches looked at in terms of statistics, and Isaiah was No. 1 in steals and assists and he was top five in all six categories,” said El Capitan coach Chris Tufts, who was named Coach of the Year. “Isaiah had the ball in his hands 80 percent of the time and only turned the ball over twice a game.

“He was the unanimous pick, and there was really no discussion about it. You look at an individual making an impact on a team, and nobody did as much as Isaiah. He definitely deserved that award.”

El Capitan sharpshooter James Sellers was named to the all-WAC first team after averaging 13.6 points.

Sellers was joined on the first team by Patterson’s Spirit Ricks and Nana Appiah, Los Banos’ Cameryn Gomez and Ceres’ Haaydn Martinez.

The second team was comprised of Gurshan Chahal (Central Valley), Austin Stiles (Ceres), Christian Garcia (Ceres), Jarod Latona (El Capitan) and Josh Penrod (Livingston).

All-CCC boys – Merced and Atwater each landed two players on the all-Central California Conference first team. Merced’s Jared Pazin and A.J. Stewart were selected to the first team and were joined by Atwater’s Kyle Anaya and Reggie Ricks.

Pitman senior Jando Diaz was named MVP after helping the Pride tie Turlock for the conference championship. Turlock’s Doug Cornfoot and Pitman’s Harvey Marable were named co-Coaches of the Year.

The rest of the all-CCC first team included Isaiah Marable (Pitman), Oscar Moreno (Turlock) and Habib Velasquez (Turlock).

Earning second-team honors were Jake Walejko (Buhach Colony), Dom Von Waaden (Pitman), Jaswinder Bidwal (Buhach Colony), Leon Ohms (Pitman), Juan Walle (Atwater), Will Hilger (Turlock) and Ricky Heidelbach (Turlock).

Luna signs with William Jessup – Gustine senior basketball star Sujey Luna signed a national letter of intent to play at William Jessup University of Rocklin last week.

Luna averaged 15.1 points this season. As a junior, she averaged 21 points and was named to the Sun-Star All-Area team after being named the Southern League MVP.

‘A Game for Joe’ is Saturday – The Atwater and Livingston High baseball teams will honor “Sweet Potato” Joe Alvernaz this Saturday with the second “A Game for Joe” at Livingston.

Alvernaz was a longtime supporter of the Atwater/Livingston Yams program and local youth baseball. The high school programs started the tradition last year in his honor, with funds from the game helping offset the costs for kids to play in the Atwater and Livingston summer programs.

There will be a special concession stand provided by The Crossface Cafe, which will feature sweet potato fries and burgers.

There will a home run derby at 4:40 p.m. The first pitch is slated for 5 p.m.

This story was originally published March 7, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "El Capitan’s Knott named WAC basketball MVP."