After each player led one of Robeson County’s high schools to a historic season on the hardwood, each of the county’s two Sandhills Athletic Conference members had a player honored as a conference player of the year.
Lumberton’s Jordan McNeill was the SAC Player of the Year for boys basketball, while Purnell Swett’s Kylie Chavis won the Player of the Year honors for girls basketball.
McNeill won the award after averaging 22.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game for the Pirates. While the award was voted on after the regular-season, McNeill solidified it in the postseason in leading the Pirates to the 4A East Regional championship and the program’s first state championship game berth, before the game’s postponement last week.
“It’s a blessing,” McNeill said. “This is my first year getting it too, and it’s my senior year, so it feels great.”
The senior guard became Lumberton’s all-time leading scorer this season with 2,055 career points. His scoring and rebounding totals remained nearly the same from last season, but he nearly doubled his assists in his final campaign, the Pirates’ first-year coach Bryant Edwards.
“Definitely my coach (helped me improve), and definitely my teammates,” McNeill said. “I’ve got people around me that can score, so that just helps out to get my assists up. The scoring was still there.”
“Without a doubt, if anyone deserves it in that conference, him and (Pinecrest guard) Bradlee Haskell are the two names thrown in there for discussion,” Edwards said. “While the coaches debated, Jordan’s stats were clearly better, and it was a pretty easy choice for him to get to that point. He deserves it, he’s been consistent all year. For him to get Player of the Year, very deserving on his part, and it shows how and why our team was as successful as it was.”
All-conference selections included Lumberton senior Michael Todd (9.0 points, 12.0 rebounds per game) and juniors Charlie Miller (13.2 points, 2.0 assists per game) and Jadarion Chatman (6.8 points, 7.1 assists, 4.0 rebounds per game), who led the conference and was third in the state in assists, according to MaxPreps. Purnell Swett senior Xavier Jones (23.1 points, 15.6 rebounds per game) was also an all-conference honoree.
The rest of the all-conference team included Haskell, J.J. Goins, Will Bode and Dillon Drennan from SAC regular-season and tournament champion Pinecrest; Nygie Stroman and Patrick McLaughlin from Richmond; Mandrell Johnson, Garrett McRae and Bruce Wall from Scotland; Quiones Clayton from Seventy-First; Ervin Everette from Hoke County; and Langston Davis from Jack Britt.
Pinecrest’s Ben Snyder was the boys Coach of the Year.
Chavis won the girls’ Player of the Year after a freshman season where she averaged 17.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game as she led Purnell Swett to its best season in over two decades, finishing third in the SAC and reaching the state playoffs.
“I didn’t expect it, because I have so many other great players in my conference,” Chavis said. “I was happy to get it, because all that hard work paid off, with the help of my teammates and my coach.”
After playing at Prospect Middle School last year, Chavis made the transition to the varsity level look easy.
“I expected that I would thrive on varsity, but I didn’t expect this much would come out of it,” Chavis said.
“It’s well deserved; she’s worked extremely hard,” Purnell Swett coach Jonathan Efird said. “People are seeing now her hard work paying off. She had an incredible year. It’s impressive what she did as a freshman; she came in and took over the league, and showed she belonged and that she’s the best player in the conference.”
Rams freshman Natalie Evington (10.3 points per game) and junior Jada Coward (7.1 points per game) were named to the all-conference team.
“All three of them, we’re not the successful team we are without all three of them,” Efird said. “They all played really well off each other. Kylie was that driving force, Natalie was spot on with her shooting and Jada was spot on with her defense.”
Lumberton’s August Smith (8.8 points, 1.8 assists, 2.9 steals per game) was the Pirates’ lone all-conference selection.
The rest of the team included Nyla Cooper, Kaya Goldsby, Ashara Hayes and Amber Nealy from Jack Britt; Amore Kirkland, Nyielah Nick and Ayonna Williams from Seventy-First; Keayna McLaughlin from Pinecrest; Keionna Love and Jayla McDougald from Richmond; Asjah Swindell from Scotland; and Wynashia Bratcher from Hoke County.
Nattlie McArthur from Jack Britt was the girls Coach of the Year.
