Portsmouth junior Devon Lattimore (2) made all-Ohio Valley Conference boys basketball first team.
Courtesy of Tim Gearhart
PORTSMOUTH — Two Trojan juniors, one a first-teamer and the other Portsmouth’s pick for Honorable Mention, made the all-Ohio Valley Conference boys basketball team —which has been announced.
Both Trojans are all-OVC first-timers —as Devin Lattimore landed the first-team selection while Deandre Berry was the Honorable Mention choice.
Portsmouth junior Deandre Berry (34) made all-Ohio Valley Conference boys basketball Honorable Mention.
Courtesy of Tim Gearhart
Portsmouth finished 4-10 in the OVC — sweeping Rock Hill with wins over Chesapeake and against Fairland for the first time since 2015.
The Trojans were one of three clubs with one first-teamer and one Honorable Mention — with 3-11 Coal Grove and 2-12 Rock Hill.
South Point, which snapped Fairland’s seven-season stranglehold on the OVC as its champion, lost only against Chesapeake —and won its final dozen clashes en route to its conference championship.
The 13-1 Pointers placed four on the first team, and swept the top honors —with junior Caleb Lovely landing Player of the Year and veteran coach Travis Wise winding up as Coach of the Year.
This was Wise’s first time as OVC COY —as South Point, beyond the league, won its first district championship since 1990 and ended up as Division III regional runner-up.
Lovely, fellow junior Xathan Haney, and seniors Xander Dornon and Jordan Ermalovich all earned first team —as Dornon was Honorable Mention last year.
Ironton at 11-3, Fairland and Gallia Academy at 9-5 apiece, and Chesapeake at 5-9 all had two first-teamers —as Gallia Academy’s six-foot and seven-inch senior Isaac Clary claimed all-OVC all four years.
Clary was Honorable Mention as a Blue Devil freshman, then made the first team his final three tries.
Clary was joined on the first team by fellow senior Brody Fellure —an Honorable Mention choice as a sophomore and junior.
Ironton’s first-teamers were sophomores Shaun Terry and Braden Schreck, while Fairland’s first-teamers were senior J.D. Thacker and junior Chase Allen.
Thacker, Allen and Schreck secured first-team accolades a year ago.
Chesapeake’s first-team picks were juniors Dannie Maynard and Caleb Cox, as Maynard moved up from last winter’s Honorable Mention.
Coal Grove sophomore Owen Johnson repeated to the first team, as junior Blake Porter represented Rock Hill at that level.
This season’s Honorable Mention choices — besides Berry for Portsmouth —included South Point senior Jaxon Vance, Ironton senior Ethan White, Fairland junior Will Davis, Gallia Academy senior Jance Lambert, Chesapeake senior Jacob Daniels, Coal Grove senior Elijah Dillon, and Rock Hill junior Noah Doddridge.
Davis, due to Fairland winning the league last year, was a 2022 first-teamer.
Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
