Jalen Myers And Destinee McGhee Named To First-Team All-State Basketball Teams
MADISON- Three players from the immediate Madison area have been selected as members of the 2020 All-State Basketball Teams by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.
A First-Team selection in Class 7A Boys was Jalen Myers of Bob Jones. The 6-foot-7 guard for the Patriots averaged 18.5 points per game along with 12.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per outing. Fresh off his play for Alabama in the 30th annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic in which Alabama defeated Mississippi 118-97, Myers remains undecided on which college he would like to attend indicating several schools have offered him a chance to play collegiate basketball.
The schools which continue to pursue his talents include Georgetown, Troy, Jacksonville, Wofford, Florida, St. John’s, Virginia Tech and UAB.
“I’ve been working since middle school to get to the point of being an All-State player and I have to thank all of the support I received from my parents, trainer and Coach (Luther) Tiggs,” said Myers.
“He can score at all three levels and he did it all for us,” said Tiggs, head coach of Bob Jones, of his star player. “In 25 of his 30 games this season he hit for a double-double. That’s almost unheard of in high school basketball.”
According to doctors, Myers has not completed his physical growth as he’s expected to grow another three inches and hit the 6-10 mark, plus he’ll gain 20 pounds once in college.
Myers seemed to be destined to be an elite basketball player as both of his parents played in college. His father, Herman, played at Southern Miss. His mother, Latoya, was an All-State player at Bob Jones and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame. She played collegiately at Alabama.
“I feel I had a season worthy of being an All-State selection as I’ve worked hard,” added Myers.
Sparkman’s Tyrese Elliott, a 6-2 sophomore, was named to the list of Honorable Mention for Class 7A.
In the Class 5A Girls First-Team selections was Destinee McGhee of Madison Academy who is one of two four-time selections in this year’s squad. The 6-2 senior for the Lady Mustangs has signed with Arkansas after leading her squad to the championship game in the Class 5A State Tournament where the Mustangs finished runner-up.
On the 2019-2020 season, McGhee hit an unbelievable 65-percent of her field goals and 68-percent of her free throws for over 500 points averaging 14.8 per game. She also pulled down 265 rebounds for a 7.8 per game average.
In the girls’ Alabama-Mississippi contest, McGhee had eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes of play as Alabama outscored Mississippi 33-28 in the second half and 54-41 in the final three quarters to post a 70-63 victory. It was Alabama’s third win in a row.
McGhee’s senior teammate Jaden Langford was named to the Second-Team squad. The 5-8 guard is a three-time selection to the ASWA teams.
“Jalen makes us proud, he was a pleasure to coach and I don’t remember in my 30 years of coaching of having a player who posted the kind of statistics he had this season,” added Tiggs.
