Jake Ehlers: 5A Player of the Year again!

Class 5A basketball all-state: Corvallis' Jake Ehlers is player of the year

Jim Beseda, The Oregonian, April 08, 2012 10:30 a.m.

Corvallis High School's Jake Ehlers has done things in pairs.

After leading the Spartans to their second consecutive state championship last season, the 6-foot-7, 200-pound Ehlers was named The Oregonian's Class 5A boys high school basketball player of the year for the second year in a row.

Ehlers shared the player of the year award last year with Benson's Andrew Andrews. But Ehlers, who is headed for the University of Portland to play basketball, was an overwhelming favorite this time around, receiving 18 of the 28 first-place votes cast by the state's Class 5A coaches.

Others named to the all-state first team were Benson's Bryce White, Silverton's Zach Gengler, Mountain View's James Reid, and Wilsonville's Kevin Marshall.

Silverton's Darren Shryock was Class 5A coach of the year.

Ehlers averaged 17 points and eight rebounds per game, down slightly from the numbers he posted as a junior, but right in line for a three-year starter whom Corvallis coach Greg Garrison described as the consummate "team player."

"Jake has a tremendous basketball IQ and he's really unselfish," Garrison said. "In fact, this year he took about 100 fewer shots than he did last year. He's real versatile for a big kid. He can distribute the ball, he can shoot the three, or he can go in and finish with either hand.

"He had some good players around him, but that was kind of our trademark -- to win and play as a team."

After a 5-4 start that included a 52-40 loss to Benson in the consolation final of the Les Schwab Invitational, the Spartans closed the season with a 19-game win streak, capping their title run with tournament wins over Silverton, Benson and Milwaukie at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.

Ehlers, who started alongside fellow seniors Nolan Hansen, Keith Johnson, Henry Parker and Joey Spiegelberg, averaged 16.7 points, 5.3rebounds and 3.0 assists in the tournament.

"Jake probably could have averaged 25 points a game," Garrison said, "but I think he knew that if he shared the ball and we did things together than we were going to be more successful. And that's what he did.

"We're certainly going to miss Jake -- his savvy, his competitiveness, and how he always seemed to shine when the games were on the line."

Pilots coach Eric Reveno said many of those same qualities should help ease Ehlers' transition to the next level.

"Jake's very skilled for his size and has a great feel for the game -- the type of player we've had tremendous success with," Reveno said. "You just don't know until you really work with a guy what makes him tick, but you take his skill, his size, and his desire to get better, and that's what we're excited about."

Ehlers is joining a program that is expected to return one senior, five juniors and five sophomores from a team that went 7-24 overall and finished eighth in the nine-team West Coast Conference with a 3-13 record.

"If the opportunity arises, I hope Jake is ready to take advantage," Reveno said. "He's a guy that can score the ball a variety of ways, and we can always use more of that."

Shryock, in his 15th season as a head coach and 10th at Silverton, led the Foxes of the Mid-Willamette Conference into the Class 5A tournament for the second time in three years. Silverton finished 22-6 after falling to Mountain View of Bend in the fourth-place game.

"Overall, I was super-pleased with our season," Shryock said. "We knew our league was going to be tough, but to finish second and with our only league losses being to Corvallis, and with three of our six losses on the season being to Corvallis, we felt really good about what we were able to accomplish."