LAGUNA NIGUEL – Rex Pflueger, a key element to Mater Dei High teams that won 64 games over two seasons, is the BurlisonOnBasketball Most Outstanding Player for the 2014-15 Southern California senior class.
The 6-foot-5 Pflueger, who signed a national letter of intent with Notre Dame in November, averaged 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game for a 29-5 Monarchs squad this season.
The program’s bid for a fifth consecutive state championship was thwarted when Coach Gary McKnight’s squad fell to Oakland Bishop O’Dowd, 65-64, in overtime, in the Open Division finale on March 28 in UC Berkeley’s Haas Pavilion.
Pflueger edged some formidable competition for the honor, most notably Stephen Thompson Jr. (Bishop Montgomery), Jeremy Hemsley (Damien), Lindsey Drew (Fairfax) and Tyler Dorsey (Maranatha).
Thompson led his team to the CIF Southern Section Open Division title and was selected as that division’s Player of the Year.
Hemsley, a first-team All-CIF SS Open Division selection, helped Damien win the State Division III crown.
Drew was the L.A. City Player of the Year after Fairfax won the City Open title before losing to Mater Dei in the State Southern Open final.
And Dorsey led California in scoring (34.0 points per game) as the Minutemen toppled Campbell Hall for the CIF SS 4A championship.
Players from the CIF Southern, L.A. City and San Diego sections were eligible to be selected to the BurlisonOnBasketball All-Seniors team. Only players I watched play in person during the season were eligible.
The players were chosen based upon their on-court accomplishments and not necessarily how extensively they were recruited, are being recruited, or will be recruited, for their on-court potential in college.
Coming early next week will be the BurlisonOnBasketball All-Southern California selections (regardless of class).
The first- and second-team, 12-player selections, including Pflueger (listed alphabetically):
FIRST TEAM
Sed Barefield (6-2/Corona Centennial)
Bennie Boatwright (6-9/Sun Valley Village Christian)
Chance Comanche (6-10/Beverly Hills)
Tyler Dorsey (6-4/Pasadena Maranatha)
Lindsey Drew (6-4/L.A. Fairfax)
Kameron Edwards (6-6/Etiwanda)
Jeremy Hemsley (6-4/La Verne Damien)
Aaron Holiday (6-0/North Hollywood Campbell Hall)
Chimeze Metu (6-9/Lawndale)
Rex Pflueger (6-5/Santa Ana Mater Dei)
Kendall Small (6-0/Lakewood Mayfair)
Stephen Thompson Jr. (6-4/Torrance Bishop Montgomery)
SECOND TEAM
Kahlil Ahmad (6-3/Corona Centennial)
Nick Anderson (6-0/Anaheim Canyon)
Alex Copeland (6-1/Studio City Harvard-Westlake)
Lorne Currie (6-3/L.A. Fairfax)
K.J. Feagin (6-1/Long Beach Poly)
C.J. Hankins (6-3/Orange Lutheran)
Max Hazzard (6-2/L.A. Loyola)
Khy Kabellis (6-3/Escondido)
Robert Lewis (6-4/Compton)
Tommy McCarthy (6-0/La Costa Canyon)
La’Vette Parker (6-2/Santa Ana Mater Dei)
Josh Rodriguez (5-11/La Habra Sonora)
Brandon Smith (6-6/Santa Ana Godinez)
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