New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
McClease a consistent presence for Cross
SCC Player of Year contributed in number of different ways
Being consistent, day in and day out, isn’t as easy to do as it may appear to be.
Consistently scoring the same range of points each game and doing the other things good basketball players do — rebound, play defense, etc. — and consistently doing that against one of the toughest schedules in the state is even harder.
Christian McClease accomplished it game in and game out for the Wilbur Cross boys basketball team. The Southern Connecticut
Conference is hard enough. Add in a brutal non-conference games the Governors played, including the Division I state tournament, and that makes what McClease accomplished even that much more impressive.
“Those teams we played are tough teams. Every game was a grind,” McClease said. “When you play those teams, it gets you ready for the tough moments in the SCC playoffs and the state playoffs. That made us ready for anything we would face.”
McClease, the Register’s Area MVP, was also named the Southern Connecticut Conference Player of the Year in a close vote among several different players. Yes, the Governors were up and down throughout the season — as head coach
Kevon Walton put it, “Our year was so inconsistent” at 14-10. But McClease wasn’t.
“Chris was our most consistent player, not only in terms of what he did on the court but even in his temperament,” Walton said. “For a lot of guys, the moment gets too big for him. Christian was pretty even-keeled.”
McClease averaged 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game for the Governors. Some of those numbers came in 10 games played against teams ranked in the final GameTi