WECSSAA names high school basketball all-stars
Arlind Avdo has been a big part of back-to-back OFSAA medal performances by the Holy Names Knights.
A six-foot-five, 200-pound wing, Avdo was named Mr. Basketball for the WECSSAA Tier I senior boys' division after helping the Knights to another league title.
“I don't think I was really surprised,” Avdo said. “The hard work really paid off and it showed.”
Along with Avdo, teammate Austin Brown was named a Tier I first-team all-star along with the Lajeunesse Royals' Jacy Zhang, the Riverside Stingers' Mo Hiljazi, the St. Anne Saints' Daniel Riggi and the Sandwich Sabres' Ansue Kromah.
The Knights also had a pair of players named second-team all-stars in Arena Kerr and Keilan Laporte along with Sandwich's Blake Bernardic, the Vista Vortex's Luka Knezevic and the Villanova Wildcats' Nathan Miller.
Catholic Central Comets' point guard Odilon Kougnamon, who helped the team to an unbeaten regular season, was named Mr. Basketball in Tier II.
“Last year was terrible,” the 17-year-old Kougnamon, who is five-foot-11 and 160 pounds. “This year, the team got a little bit better.”
The Massey Mustangs' Steven Xu, the Kingsville Cavaliers' Hayden Nurse, the Brennan Cardinals' Barry James, the Belle River Nobles' Dante Graziano and the Leamington Lions' Andy Groening were all named first-team all-stars in Tier II.
The Comets' Taj Nalls was named a second-team allstar along with the Assumption Purple Raiders' Daniel Skilorav, the Essex Red Raiders' Kage Bildfell, the L'essor Aigles' Jayden Serafimov and the Cardinal Carter Cougars' Sam Jones.
While Avdo and Kougnamon are planning to return next season, Windsor Islamic Jaguars power forward Omar El- Gohary, who was named Mr. Basketball in Tier III, is headed to the University of Windsor in the fall and hopes to get a tryout with the Lancers.
“It means a lot because it's my last year and I'm graduating,” the 18-year-old El- Gohary said of being named Mr. Basketball. “So, it's a good way to finish off high school basketball for sure.”
Along with the six-foot-one, 205-pound El- Gohary, the Tier III first-team all-star team also features Westview Freedom Academy Falcons' Achilles Shinas, Lamothe-cadillac Faucons' Hussein Jaber along with Maranatha Christian Academy Panthers teammates Matteo Ricketts and Joseph Albano.
Two Academie Ste. Cecile Spirit teammates were named second-team all-stars in Emanual Navo and Ayo Akinlaja along with the Jaguars' Hassan Riaz, the Faucons' Adam Zaitoun and Nathan Ribble from the United Mennonite Education Institute Lightning.