Published: May 04, 2008 01:08 am         

Brooks repeats as player of year

Fort Hill senior seventh athlete in area history to win top award twice

After a dominant junior season, there was only one thing left for Fort Hill’s Jordan Brooks.

A repeat performance.

The Sentinels senior did just that, leading Fort Hill back to the state tournament and becoming the seventh player in area history to repeat as the Cumberland Times-News high school boys basketball Player of the Year.

Brooks, a 6-foot guard who also was the Appalachian Mountain Athletic Conference’s player of the year, was the only returning starter from a team that went 23-3 and played in the state tournament in 2007.

This year the Sentinels turned in an identical 23-3 record. Brooks’ player-of-the-year seasons comprised one of the more successful two-year spans in school history: 46-6 overall record, two Area titles, two City championships, two region championships, one AMAC title, one Western Maryland Interscholastic League crown, and back-to-back trips to the Maryland state tournament.

This year he had four new faces in the starting lineup, but the Sentinels seemed to hit on all cylinders from the very start. Brooks led them to a season-opening, and area high, 15-game winning streak.

“Jordan met all of our expectations,’’ said Fort Hill coach Todd Eirich, who recently resigned after six seasons as the Sentinels coach. “I was concerned with four new starters, but he did a great job getting the team to play at a high level. Going back-to-back to College Park and being back-to-back Area champions is a nice accomplishment.

“I think Jordan understood he had to do more to bring this team along than just score. His rebounds and assist numbers were up this year.”

Consistency is a key in everything, and consistency might have been Brooks’ adopted middle name. From the outside and inside, and in the halfcourt or transition, the Sentinels and their opponents knew what Brooks was capable of doing, and what he could be counted on to deliver nightly.

Brooks averaged 22 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists over the 26-game season. He ranked second in the area in scoring, was seventh in foul shooting, making 118 of 155 chances for 76.1 percent, and seventh in three-point goals, hitting 46 in 26 games for 1.76 per game.

He averaged 22.2 points, shot 75 percent from the foul line and made 29 three-pointers in leading Fort Hill to the first AMAC championship with a perfect 14-0 mark.

Also first-team All-City, he led that league in scoring, averaging 27 points per game, and foul shooting, making 26 of 29 for 90 percent. He was second in three-pointers with eight in the four games.

“I think Jordan could control a game if he wanted to through scoring and dishing the ball off,’’ said Eirich. “It’s a tough combination when a player can do both efficiently.”

Brooks did plenty of the ball-handling early in the season, but wasn’t needed to do it all because of the play of his brother, Ryan, over the course of the year.

“It worked the year before with Steven Iser, and Jordan’s brother, Ryan, did a fine job absorbing that role as the year went on. It was a good 1-2 punch to have them both be able to handle the point.”

The player of the year debuted in 1974, and Jordan Brooks is only the seventh repeat winner. The others were Allegany’s Donavin Vinson (2005, 2006) and D.J. Jessie (1993, 1994), Southern’s Brett Rice (1991, 1992), Bishop Walsh’s Barry Page (1987, 1988), Fort Hill’s J.P. Warner (1982, 1983) and Valley’s Dave Hobel (1979, 1980).

“There certainly have been some outstanding baskeball players in the area in the last 35 years with too many to name. I would have a hard time ranking Jordan because I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out,’’ said Eirich. “I would say that I think he deserved the recognition he received the last two years.”

The player of the year is determined by a vote of area head coaches.

Contact Mike Mathews at mmathews@times-news.com.