AHS’ Oliver, Martin share Player of Year
Sometimes it is difficult for two talented high school athletes to coexist within the same team, but that was not the case with Arkansas High’s senior guards Taviron Oliver and Kyndal Martin.
Oliver and Martin were selected as the Texarkana Gazette’s All-Area Co-Players of the Year.
“We were never in competition when we were on the court. If he had a great game, we’d feed off that. If I were having a good game, we’d stay with that. We just really wanted to win,” Arkansas High senior guard Kyndal Martin said.
The cohesiveness was glaringly evident between the two senior floor generals for Arkansas High.
“We’ve been playing with each other since we were young. We have good communication between us. I know what he wants to do on the court and he knows what I’m trying to do as well,” Arkansas High senior guard Taviron Oliver said.
Contrary to popular opinion, Martin and Oliver were more than facilitators for the Razorbacks high-flying, up-tempo offense. Oliver averaged a team-leading 23.3 points per game, while Martin followed with 16.8 points per game.
“We just kept grinding everyday. We came out and bought into the system Coach Weaver wanted to implement from the beginning. It really paid off in the end. You can see growth within all the players from last year’s team,” Oliver said.
Oliver, Martin and company, took a 9-15 squad in 2016, that was only able to come away with one conference victory, to a 20-win team playing for a conference championship in 2017.
“I think we were on a different level
playing this year. We had a great coach, who understood how to get the most out of us,” Martin said.
Oliver and Martin both exemplified to not only area residents, but college recruiters and scouts alike, that they both have what it takes to play on the collegiate level.
Martin will become a preferred walkon at the University of Arkansas, while Oliver will take his talents north of the Arkansas border to Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
For the first time in at least three decades, the Arkansas High boys’ basketball program was poised for a deep postseason run in the Conference 6A playoffs.
“It was a great feeling to turn the program around. You just have to put the work in for it. It can be done but everyone has to be on the same page,” Oliver said.
Both players understand their impactful accomplishments on not on the Arkansas High basketball program, but the school and the community as a whole.
“When people typically think about Arkansas High, they think of it as a football school. Now, you can’t help but think about the basketball team. We were able to do something that hasn’t been done, so that’s a great feeling,” Martin said.