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3/29/05
Oden tops All-State team again
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Associated Press
March 28, 2005
For the second straight year, 7-footer Greg Oden led Lawrence North to the Class 4A championship, and for the second straight year he was the top vote-getter on The Associated Press All-State basketball team.
Oden, still just a junior, set a 4A championship record with 29 points in a 63-52 victory over Muncie Central on Saturday. Even though All-State voting was completed before then, a panel of sports writers put Oden at the top of a dominating front line that also includes 6-11 Luke Zeller of 3A champion Washington and 6-10 Josh McRoberts of Carmel.
"He's a talent. I don't know when we've had a talent like that come through Indiana," Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer said.
"He works hard," Keefer said of the reason for Oden's success. "He comes in every morning at 6:30 and does his job. He's very unselfish. He's just a neat kid."
Oden's Lawrence North teammate Mike Conley, also a junior, was a second-team All-State selection in the voting announced today.
Except for Oden, the first team was loaded with seniors, all Division I college recruits.
Zeller, a Notre Dame recruit who averaged 19 points and nine rebounds a game, led the Hatchets to the No. 1 ranking in Class 3A and scored the winning basket on a 3-pointer at the buzzer ending overtime in a 74-72 victory over Plymouth.
McRoberts, a Duke recruit, led Carmel to the No. 7 ranking in 4A and a 21-4 record, losing in the sectional tourney finals. Both Zeller and McRoberts were third-team All-State picks last year as juniors.
Joining them on the AP first team this season are a pair of 5-foot-11 guards, Dominic James of Richmond and Deonta Vaughn of Indianapolis Arlington.
James, who has signed to play at Marquette, led the state in scoring at 31.1 points a game for the 4A No. 9-ranked Red Devils. Vaughn, an Indiana recruit, averaged 23 points a game and led Arlington to the 4A No. 1 ranking, with its only loss to Lawrence North in the tourney sectionals.
Besides Oden and Conley, the only other underclassman on any of the AP boys teams is sophomore Eric Gordon of Indianapolis North Central, who was fourth in the state in scoring at 25.5 points a game.
Joining Conley and Gordon on the AP second team are seniors Jordan Armstrong of Muncie Central, Jason Holsinger of Class A champion Lapel and Arman Bassett of Terre Haute South, which lost to Lawrence North in the 4A semistate.
Third-team picks, all seniors, are Kyle Benge of Plymouth, the state's second-leading scorer at 27 points a game, Adam Gore of Monrovia, Adam Arnold of Bellmont, Wacey Hall of Evansville Mater Dei and Darren Cloud of Evansville Reitz.
Armstrong is a Southern Illinois recruit, Holsinger and Hall are headed to Evansville, Gore will play at Cornell and Arnold is headed to Indiana State.
James, Hall, Conley, Benge, Armstrong and Arnold all were high honorable-mention All-State picks last year.
This year's girls' All-State team also includes a flock of major college recruits, including 6-5 Amber Harris of two-time defending 4A champion North Central, a junior who has already declared for Purdue. Harris was a second-team selection last year.
Also on this year's first team are Miss Basketball Jodi Howell of Alexandria, a Purdue recruit and the state's scoring leader at 28.7 points a game; Cassie Kerns of Valparaiso, also a senior who is headed to Connecticut; Kimberly Roberson of Indianapolis Cathedral, who will play at Indiana; and Melissa Lechlitner of South Bend St. Joseph's, a junior who has declared for Notre Dame.
The girls' second team is headed by another future Boilermaker, 6-6 Ta'Shia Phillips of Indianapolis Brebeuf, a sophomore who averaged 20 points and 13 rebounds a game.
Joining her on the second team are Cincinnati recruit Kahla Roudebush of Hamilton Southeastern, Notre Dame recruit Ashley Barlow of Indianapolis Pike, Florida State recruit Mara Freshour of Brown County and junior Dee Dee Jernigan of East Chicago.
Third-team picks are Aimee Litka of St. Joseph's, Dana Beaven of Corydon, FahKara Malone of Evansville Memorial, Stefanie Gerardot of Fort Wayne Luers and Porchia Green of Arlington.
Phillips, Litka, Malone, Jernigan, Lechlitner, Kerns and Gerardot were all high honorable-mention picks a year ago.
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