DIVISION I BOYS HONORS: Unorthodox style lifts Cougars’ Kornieck to Southeast accolade

Coronado boys basketball coach Jeff Kaufman kept coming back to one word when describing senior forward Nick Kornieck: unorthodox.

He also could have used effective.

The 6-foot-7-inch senior forward averaged 17.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in helping the Cougars to a 10-0 record in the Southeast League. For his efforts, he was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player by the coaches.

“Nick really didn’t start playing the game until his freshman year in high school,” Kaufman said. “The way that his shot looks, anybody who’s been around the game wants to fix it. At this point, you don’t need to fix it because it goes in. His shooting percentage is really good. It just looks a little unorthodox, but it got the job done.”

Kornieck showed off his versatility, at times rebounding and then bringing the ball down the floor to start the offense.

“He played every position on the floor for us,” Kaufman said. “And that’s what we needed this year.”

The Cougars also needed better defense and rebounding by their senior leader this season, and Kornieck obliged.

“His rebounding was just much better,” Kaufman said. “We preached to him all along, ‘If you’re going to continue playing basketball, you have to be a better rebounder and a better defender.’ That’s mostly what we worked on with him, because the offense was already there.”

Kaufman was named the Southeast Coach of the Year.

The Southeast League was the only Division I league to have a single MVP.

Las Vegas High’s Patrick Savoy, Valley’s Cameron Burton and Canyon Springs’ Jordan Davis shared the honor in the Northeast League.

Savoy averaged 17.7 points and 7.1 rebounds in leading the Wildcats to the league’s top seed. Burton averaged 15 points and 6.6 assists during the regular season for the Vikings, who lost just one league game. Davis averages 21.5 points for Canyon Springs, which finished third in the league but won the Sunrise Region tournament.

Las Vegas High’s Jason Wilson was the Northeast Coach of the Year.

Centennial guards Troy Brown and Darrian Taylor shared Northwest League MVP honors. Brown averaged 16.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists. Traylor averaged 16.5 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who went 8-0 in the league.

Centennial’s Todd Allen took the Northwest coaching honor.

In the Southwest League, Bishop Gorman twin towers Chase Jeter and Stephen Zimmerman were named co-MVPs. Both players have been selected to play in the McDonald’s All American Game.

The 6-11 Jeter averaged 15.8 points and 10.6 rebounds during the regular season, and 7-footer Zimmerman supplied 15 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Palo Verde’s Paul Sanchez was named Southwest Coach of the Year.

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters.