Oak Hall School’s Andrew Powell played the best all-around game of his high school basketball career last Friday.
In fact, according to Oak Hall assistant coach David Stirt, “It was the best all-around game by any Oak Hall player that I can remember and that’s going back 25 years.”
The senior scored 22 points, made six 3-pointers, had 12 rebounds, five blocked shots, three assists, two steals and zero turnovers in 28 minutes in a 72-55 win against Redeemer Christian (Ocala) as the Eagles improved to 9-4.
Powell has been recognized as the Pavlik Orthodontics Athlete of the Week for the week of Jan. 1.
“Andrew’s had a lot of good games for us the last four years, but this was probably his best all-around performance,” said Oak Hall head coach Monte Towe. “He did it all, score, rebound, defend. I’d say it’s the best all-around game by a player in the eight years I’ve been head coach at Oak Hall.”
Powell was 6-of-13 behind the arc, but he can score in a variety of ways.
“He’s an explosive offensive player,” Towe said. “With his shooting ability, he can put up six, eight, 10 points quickly. He has always been a great scorer, but he’s improved his game in every area the past four years.”
Powell, who plays 24 minutes per game, is averaging 16.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
He’s also shooting 40% from 3-point range and is an 84% free throw shooter.
“His rebounding, defense and ball handling have all gotten better this year, but that’s because he works year-round to improve his game,” Towe said. “Whenever your best player is the hardest worker on your team, you’re in good shape. Andrew has been a big reason why we’ve won so many games the past three years (40-16).”
He becomes the 20th athlete to be selected for the weekly award during the 2023-24 school year.
Last week’s winner was Kyler Lamb of the Williston boys basketball team.
Lamb averaged 17 points per game over four games at the Kingdom of the Sun basketball tournament at Vanguard (Ocala) as the Red Devils went 3-1 with wins against 1A state semifinalist Hawthorne, host Vanguard, and then 6A No. 11 Leto (Tampa). Their only loss was to nationally ranked Winter Haven.
Recent winners include Hawthorne boys basketball player C.J. Ingram and Newberry girls basketball player Brandy Whitfield.
For a complete list of winners, click here.
Coaches can email their nominations each week, along with stats, no later than Sunday night to mike.ridaught@mainstreetdailynews.com.