Bee’s Best: Breaking down Player of the Year candidates for Sacramento-area boys basketball
In high school basketball, teams have to have an anchor, a go-to, in order to have a legitimate shot at a championship, especially if that goal is to secure a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section blue banner. Anything beyond that quest is gravy on top of the cake, or something like that.
In the Sacramento region, powerhouse teams that expect to compete for titles at Golden 1 Center on Feb. 27-28 feature bigs who can pound away inside and gobble up rebounds, or play-making guards who can run the break, hit from inside or out or finish at the rim.
Here’s a breakdown of The Sacramento Bee’s Player of the Year candidates as the regular season winds down. Playoff success traditionally serves as the difference-maker, since the postseason towers over the regular season.
Siincere Hudson
School: Inderkum Tigers
Division: I
Skinny: The 6-foot-2 sophomore point guard is the steadying presence for The Bee’s top-ranked team. Hudson averages a hair under 18 points, can score inside and out and feed a variety of leapers and bigs that have helped the Tigers remain unbeaten in section play with a 21-1 record entering the weekend with no losses in section play. No Inderkum player has won this award since the school opened in Natomas in 2004.
The last sophomore to win Bee Player of the Year honors are Folsom guard Jordan Ford in 2014 (he won it again in 2015 and was The Bee’s Player of the Decade for the 2010s).
Rawshawn Inglemon
School: Monterey Trail Mustangs
Division: I
Skinny: A year older and seasoned, the 6-1 senior point guard has been terrific for what is shaping up to be the program’s finest team since it opened in the Elk Grove Unified School District 20 years ago, and a Delta League crown would be the program’s first after winning the last two Metro League banners. Inglemon averages 16.1 points, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals and has a solid senior guard backcourt mate who also pushes tempo in Derron White, and the Mustangs have a potential Bee Player of the Year big in freshman Devaughn Dorrough, who leads the team in scoring (17.2) and rebounding (9.3).
Brandon Gibson was The Bee’s Player of the Year last season as a senior guard, the first such honor in school history.
Mark Lavrenov
School: Rocklin Thunder
Division: II
Skinny: The 6-foot-7 senior forward and fourth-year varsity player who has committed to Sacramento State is a load to deal with, strong inside and capable of making 3-point shots. He averages 26.9 points and 13.8 rebounds and leads the defending Sierra Foothill League champions in 3-point field-goal percentage at 45 %. Lavrenov isn’t a one-man gang as the Thunder feature star guards Josiah Andrews and Ely Willis.
The last Rocklin player to earn Bee Player of the Year honors was Brendan Lane in 2009 after the Thunder reached a CIF state final.
Chase Rawlins
School: Folsom Bulldogs
Division: I
Skinny: Long, lanky, skilled and determined, the 6-5 senior guard can handle the ball, shoot the ball, pass the ball and attack with drives or dunks for a Folsom team that is ranked third by The Bee with local losses to Monterey Trail and Rocklin. Folsom is fundamentally sound, so it isn’t points that matter much in such awards. It’s victories, leadership and effort. Rawlins averages 15.3 points and 4.0 assists, and he has a teammate in junior forward Joven Dulay who is also in the running for such honors in averaging 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds for a team in the hunt for the Sierra Foothill League championship.
The last Folsom player to earn Bee player honors was Jaylen Wells in 2021, a classic late bloomer. He’s now with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Jaylen Valdez
School: Destiny Christian Academy
Division: II
Skinny: The 6-3 senior guard was The Bee’s Large School Player of the Year last season when the school was known as Capital Christian, and he’s been good to great again for a team that has played as tough a schedule as any team in the section and is unbeaten in section play. Valdez can see the floor, run the floor, pass and score, and he is averaging 17.1 points, 3.1 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals on a team that includes fellow go-to guys in 6-6 forwards Jephte Tambala and Myles Wiggins and a defensive star in the 6-6 Mohamed Kamara.
Aiden Rollins
School: Franklin Wildcats
Division: I
Skinny: A third-year varsity starter and just a junior, the 6-3 combo guard runs the show for the Elk Grove school that is in the thick of the Delta League race. And Rollins competes with a heavy heart. He plays in honor of his father, AJ, who died after a seven-year battle with cancer two years ago. Rollins is averaging 21.5 points on nearly 60% shooting, grabs 4.9 rebounds, dishes out 3.3 assists and makes 2.8 steals and may well bow out next season as the program’s greatest player since the school opened in 2002.
The last star-power Wildcats player like Rollins was CJ Morgan, a guard who in 2004 scored a school-record 52 points against Modesto in a Division I postseason contest, still a section playoff record.
Asher Schroeder
School: Jesuit Marauders
Division: II
Skinny: The 6-5 senior guard is tall enough to shoot over defenders, skilled enough to attack inside and to pass, and he competes with the gusto of a kid who loves what he’s doing. Schroeder also competes to the the point of near collapse, explaining after an overtime victory against Rocklin this season, “That’s my job, to be a leader, to hustle and play hard.” Jesuit is in the Sierra Foothill League championship race for a storied program that has had seven Bee Players of the Year, the first coming in 1969.
Max VanLaningham
School: Woodcreek Timberwolves
Division: II
Skinny: The 6-9, 230-pound junior big plays big for the Timberwolves of Roseville, who can rattle the D-II playoff field with wins and a section finals appearance. VanLaningham averages 16.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 3.9 blocked shots for a program battling for the Capital Valley Conference crown, a league topped by Inderkum. VanLan has to play big in the playoffs, where every rebound and every blocked shot matters, and he cannot wait for the challenge.
The school’s last Bee Player of the Year was 6-11 big Jordan Brown in 2017.
Kannon Rector
School: Placer Hillmen
Division: III
Skinny: Just a sophomore guard, the poised, skilled and talented Rector has wrecked opponents trying to figure him out, and he has a junior backcourt mate in Emmett Rose to work with as Rose leads the team in scoring at 19.3 points. But Rector leads the show, averaging 17.9 points, 5.9 assists, 2.4 steals, and 4.0 rebounds for a storied program that entered the weekend at 21-2. Placer has never had a Bee Player of the Year in this sport.
Placer’s best team was the 1972 outfit that was Bee-ranked No. 1 and reached the section Division I finals behind star Alton Caesar.
Stephan Hewitt
School: Christian Brothers Falcons
Division: III
Skinny: The Falcons are off to a rousing start at 19-5 entering the weekend with nonleague victories over Jesuit and Vanden and two losses to Inderkum, a credit to a team that plays terrific team ball under Bee Coach of the Year candidate Jermaine Brown and leaders such as the 6-3 Hewitt, a senior guard who can shoot from anywhere. He is averaging 17.1 points, is grabbing a team-high 7.3 rebounds and leads the club in blocks.
Sir Marius Jones
School: Sacramento Dragons
Division: II
Skinny: Last season’s Bee Medium School Player of the Year after powering the Dragons to a section Division III championship repeat, the 6-4 guard is doing Sir Marius things again, and never mind Sacramento’s misleading 15-9 record entering the weekend. The Dragons have just two losses in section play, to Oak Ridge and to Vanden. The fourth-year starter is averaging 20.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists for a team in the hunt for the Monticello Empire League championship but is now in Division II, moved up after the section’s “sustained success model.” A section crown would work wonders for Jones’ resume.
Sac High’s Player of the Year names over the decades include Kevin Johnson in 1983 when he led the state in scoring, and the last Dragon to win the honor was forward Solomon Young in 2016 when the team went 30-2.
Manno Jenkins
School: Natomas Nighthawks
Division: IV
Skinny: The 6-1 junior guard is a third-year starter for Natomas, which made a deep CIF NorCal title run last season under Bee Coach of the Year Brian McKenzie. Manno has been the man again, averaging 21.4 points this season to go with 4.2 assits, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 steals for the section’s favorite in Division IV. He played his best games in the playoffs last season and will have to again this season.
Sebastian James
School: Sheldon Huskies
Division: I
Skinny: The defensive-minded, share-the-ball Huskies of the Elk Grove Unified have another leader of the pack in this 6-foot-6 wing, who works marvelously alongside another Bee Player of the Year candidate in 6-4 guard teammate Chadwick Johnson. Both helped Sheldon survive a brutal nonconference schedule with tournaments in Idaho, Nevada and in Southern California, and the Huskies are in the hunt for another Delta League championship after beating Monterey Trail on Wednesday. James often guards the other team’s top player, leads the team in blocked shots and fills up the stat sheet beyond averaging 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds. Johnson leads the team in scoring at 14 points per, doing his damage from all over.
The last Sheldon player to earn Bee Player of the Year was Marcus Bagley in 2020.
Romello Bruhn
School: Woodland Christian
Division: V
Skinny: A third-year starter and just a junior, Bruhn is a smooth and prolific 6-3 guard who this season eclipsed the 2,000-point mark with eyes on 3,000 as another great scorer to grace this region. But his real focus is on winning the school’s first basketball section crown. Bruhn is averaging a section-best 30.2 points, and he leads the Cardinals in rebounding (6.7 a game), steals (3.5) and field-goal percentage (53%). He was The Bee’s Smallest School Player of the Year last season.
This story was originally published February 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.