Ashe Mountain Times

Ashe County High's Zeb Richardson and Marc Payne captured the boys top individual honors after Friday's conclusion of the Mountain Valley Conference's basketball tournaments.

Richardson was named the Player of the Year and Payne collected the Coach of the Year honor.

“I wouldn't be here without my teammates,” Richardson said of the honor.

Richardson has been chosen to the 10-member North Carolina team for the Carolinas All-Star Basketball Classic. He's also already established a new benchmark for blocked shots in a season and is closing in on the school's career record.

“When you're averaging about a double-double per game, and you've got in the neighborhood of 123 blocks to go with the rebounds, I don't think there was any question,” Payne said of Richardson. “And he's on the regular season conference championship team.”

Richardson is the third Husky to win the boys award in the last four years, joining Tommy Spagnolo (2009) and Greyson Wells (2010).

“We knew he'd play a big role,” senior Andrew Lopp said of Richardson. “He did a great job. He worked hard all year. It's great for him to get it.”

Payne, architect of 573 coaching victories, has been named a league coach of the year 17 times in 37 years. His most recent in the MVC was in 2010.

Richardson and Payne were among nine from Ashe County High honored by the league coaches' votes.

The boys all-conference team, in addition to Richardson, also included seniors Sam Gammons and Lopp. Named to the honorable mention unit were juniors Eli Gambill and Nehemiah Stafford.

The all-tournament team included Richardson and Gammons.

The girls all-conference team included Ashe County senior MacKinsey Johnson. Named honorable mention was senior Hannah Shipp and freshman Paige Spell.

Johnson also was selected to the girls all-tournament team.

The boys championship was won by Wilkes Central, 54-51 over Ashe. In the girls championship, Wilkes Central defeated East Wilkes 76-36.