El Capitan point guard Knott ties up WAC MVP award
El Capitan senior point guard Isaiah Knott was named the Western Athletic Conference MVP after leading the Gauchos to their championship.
Knott finished in the top-5 in the conference in all six of the statistical categories graded by the WAC coaches, including first in assists (5.8) and steal (4.6).
El Capitan coach Chris Tufts was named the Coach of the Year, completing a historic campaign for the city of Merced’s youngest school. The Gauchos went 11-1 in conference and qualified for the Sac-Joaquin Section postseason for the first time in school history. El Capitan was eliminated in the first round of the Division III playoffs by Manteca, which will play for the CIF Northern California Division III championship on Saturday.
Knott was the catalyst on a team that also feature all-conference first-team selection James Sellers. Knott averaged a team-high 15.3 and had the ball in his hands 80 percent of the time, Tuft told the Merced Sun-Star.
Sellers was joined on the first team by Ceres’ Haaydn Martinez; Los Banos’ Cameron Gomez; and Patterson’s Spirit Ricks and Nana Appiah.
James Burns: 209-578-2150, @jburns1980
All-Western Athletic Conference Boys Basketball
Coach of the Year: Chris Tufts, El Capitan
Most Valuable Player: Isaiah Knott, El Capitan
First Team: James Sellers, El Capitan; Spirit Ricks, Patterson; Nana Appiah, Patterson; Cameron Gomez, Los Banos; Haaydn Martinez, Ceres.
Second Team: Gurshawn Chahal, Central Valley; Austin Stiles, Ceres; Cristian Garcia, Ceres; Jarod Latona, El Capitan; Josh Penrod, Livingston.
Honorable Mention: Joshua Stewart, El Capitan; Kevin Alvarez, Livingston; Travis Willmott, Pacheco.
This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 1:32 PM with the headline "El Capitan point guard Knott ties up WAC MVP award."