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The boys basketball season is behind us, and so we gave you a chance to choose who you thought deserved to be the boys high school basketball Player of the Year by voting in our poll.
You were able to choose from the 11 nominees below, and you voted at either rrstar.com, or below.
The poll stayed open for two weeks.
Baseball players to watch: Here are 30 of the Rockford area's top baseball players to watch in 2025
And the winner is...: Hononegah's Brayden Olson. Hononegah went 21-10 and took fourth in the NIC-10 this season with Olson leading the way. He averaged 16.4 points and 4.4 rebounds, and scored 21 points, including a key 3-pointer that gave Hononegah a lead with 4.8 seconds remaining in a double-overtime victory over Auburn in the regional quarterfinals.
He then earned over 43 percent of the votes in our poll, which was over 15,500 votes. The poll got 35,993 total votes.
Here is a little bit more on the other nominees:
Awender averaged 15 points per game for Eastland, and scored 15 in the IHSA Class 1A state championship game in Champaign. Awender and the Cougars couldn't bring home a title but the senior guard was named an IBCA first-team All-Stater.
This junior was the NIC-10 MVP who averaged 17.4 points, and the 6-0 guard led Guilford to its third straight NIC-10 title and a 27-6 record.
Cummings battled through a hand injury late in the year, but still managed to average over 30 points per game down the stretch, including 31 in a loss to Winnebago in the regional final. Rockford Christian became the first team in IHSA history to have a pair of 2,000-point scorers on the same team when both Cummings and Elijah Daugherty surpassed the mark this season.
Danforth averaged 24.4 points, 3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals for an Auburn team that went 19-13 and finished third in the NIC-10. Danforth also drained 111 3-pointers this season.
Hoffman broke his foot midway through Pecatonica's sectional final loss to Eastland, which prematurely ended his senior season. Still, the 6-1 point guard and first-team All Stater was a bona fide star all year long, averaging more than 20 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists while shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Krogman, who averaged just over 15 points and six rebounds this year, finished with a team-high 17 points in the 1A state final, but the Cougars still lost to Chicago Hope and its All Stater Tyjuan Hunter.
Larson was a standout for one of the teams that went the farthest in the Big Northern Conference. Despite an 11-17 record, Winnebago soared to the sectional semis, with Larson getting hot at the right time. He had a game-high 19 points in his final high school game, a 42-40 loss to Rock Falls.
Byron also made it to the sectional semis, knocking off rival Lutheran along the way, and Newton was the leader all season and postseason. The 6-1 junior guard was named third-team All State, and he scored 24 and 14 points in his final two games this season.
This 6-1 junior guard averaged 17 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals for Auburn, and poured it on late in the season as Auburn won seven of eight ― before falling by one to Hononegah in that crazy first-round playoff matchup.
The 6-foot-8 senior led the Sobos to its fourth straight 27-plus-win season and he was a first-team All-State in Class 1A as a junior and a senior. Robertson was named the Rockford Register Star's high school boys basketball Preseason Player of the Year in a readers' poll.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected] and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: The votes are in, and here's the Boys Basketball Player of the Year
Continue reading...
You were able to choose from the 11 nominees below, and you voted at either rrstar.com, or below.
The poll stayed open for two weeks.
Baseball players to watch: Here are 30 of the Rockford area's top baseball players to watch in 2025
And the winner is...: Hononegah's Brayden Olson. Hononegah went 21-10 and took fourth in the NIC-10 this season with Olson leading the way. He averaged 16.4 points and 4.4 rebounds, and scored 21 points, including a key 3-pointer that gave Hononegah a lead with 4.8 seconds remaining in a double-overtime victory over Auburn in the regional quarterfinals.
He then earned over 43 percent of the votes in our poll, which was over 15,500 votes. The poll got 35,993 total votes.
Here is a little bit more on the other nominees:
Adam Awender, Eastland
Awender averaged 15 points per game for Eastland, and scored 15 in the IHSA Class 1A state championship game in Champaign. Awender and the Cougars couldn't bring home a title but the senior guard was named an IBCA first-team All-Stater.
Branden Chatman, Guilford
This junior was the NIC-10 MVP who averaged 17.4 points, and the 6-0 guard led Guilford to its third straight NIC-10 title and a 27-6 record.
Christian Cummings, Rockford Christian
Cummings battled through a hand injury late in the year, but still managed to average over 30 points per game down the stretch, including 31 in a loss to Winnebago in the regional final. Rockford Christian became the first team in IHSA history to have a pair of 2,000-point scorers on the same team when both Cummings and Elijah Daugherty surpassed the mark this season.
Amir Danforth, Auburn
Danforth averaged 24.4 points, 3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals for an Auburn team that went 19-13 and finished third in the NIC-10. Danforth also drained 111 3-pointers this season.
Cooper Hoffman, Pecatonica
Hoffman broke his foot midway through Pecatonica's sectional final loss to Eastland, which prematurely ended his senior season. Still, the 6-1 point guard and first-team All Stater was a bona fide star all year long, averaging more than 20 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists while shooting over 50 percent from the field.
Parker Krogman, Eastland
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Krogman, who averaged just over 15 points and six rebounds this year, finished with a team-high 17 points in the 1A state final, but the Cougars still lost to Chicago Hope and its All Stater Tyjuan Hunter.
Brody Larson, Winnebago
Larson was a standout for one of the teams that went the farthest in the Big Northern Conference. Despite an 11-17 record, Winnebago soared to the sectional semis, with Larson getting hot at the right time. He had a game-high 19 points in his final high school game, a 42-40 loss to Rock Falls.
Casen Newton, Byron
Byron also made it to the sectional semis, knocking off rival Lutheran along the way, and Newton was the leader all season and postseason. The 6-1 junior guard was named third-team All State, and he scored 24 and 14 points in his final two games this season.
Champ Parker, Auburn
This 6-1 junior guard averaged 17 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals for Auburn, and poured it on late in the season as Auburn won seven of eight ― before falling by one to Hononegah in that crazy first-round playoff matchup.
Ross Robertson, South Beloit
The 6-foot-8 senior led the Sobos to its fourth straight 27-plus-win season and he was a first-team All-State in Class 1A as a junior and a senior. Robertson was named the Rockford Register Star's high school boys basketball Preseason Player of the Year in a readers' poll.
Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at [email protected] and sign up for the Rockford High School Sports Newsletter here at rrstar.com. Jay has covered a variety of sports, from the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks to local youth sports, since the turn of the century at the Register Star.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: The votes are in, and here's the Boys Basketball Player of the Year
Continue reading...
