Gorman’s Stephen Zimmerman named sophomore All-American

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Thursday, April 25, 2013 | 2 a.m.

Bishop Gorman High basketball player Stephen Zimmerman continues to make a name for himself nationally.

Last week, the 6-foot-11 center was named to the Maxpreps Sophomore All-American first team. Zimmerman dominated the paint for Gorman last season, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 rebounds per game to help the Gaels win the state championship. He also had 148 blocks.

He’s a five-star recruit by multiple evaluating sites and is listed as the fifth overall prospect for the class of 2015 by ESPN.com. He has scholarship offers from UNLV, Arizona, UCLA, Kansas, Connecticut and others.

Canyon Springs sophomore grabs first scholarship offers

Canyon Springs sophomore point guard Jordan Davis burst onto the scene late during the high school season in February, going from the Pioneers' junior varsity squad to one of the best players in the Sunrise Region.

It was only a matter of time until college recruiters took notice. This week, Northern Arizona became the first to offer him a scholarship. He’s the third local from the class of 2015 — Gorman’s Zimmerman and Chase Jeter are the others — with an offer.

The 6-foot-2 Davis was Canyon Springs’ best player in the postseason, helping them win the Sunrise championship and advance to the state semifinals. He had a team-high 27 points in the Sunrise title game and led Canyon Springs in scoring in three of its four playoff games.

Allen twins picked for All-American game

Centennial High twins Malcolm and Marcus Allen were selected to play in the Ballislife All-American Game on May 4 at Long Beach City College in California.

The Allens, who will play next year at Stanford, led the Bulldogs to the state championship game last season.

With the exception of four defeats to Bishop Gorman, including in the state championship game, the Allens were virtually unstoppable. In three of the four setbacks against Gorman, Centennial led in the fourth quarter and arguably should have won.

“First of all, our goal was to put Centennial on the map. That’s been our goal since freshman year, but the biggest thing that we learned was that you need to play smart,” Marcus Allen told ballislife.com. “If you don’t have the same tools that the other team has, you have to play smart and learn how to outsmart them. Every possession counts when you’re playing a team like Gorman because they capitalize on all of your mistakes. You really have to find your teammates and trust them a lot when you’re playing teams like that.”

Marcus Allen scored a state-best 28.2 points per game to be named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. He also posted 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.

Malcolm Allen averaged 22 points and 4.9 assists per game.

Chap gets new coach

Steve Bentz was hired late last week as the Chaparral High coach.

Bentz, who spent the past two seasons as an assistant at Foothill, replaces Chancellor Davis. Bentz has much head coaching experience, leading Basic, his alma mater, from 2005-10.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.