Trimble voted state’s player of the year

YAKIMA, Wash. — Whenever David Trimble would make his trips to Seattle to practice and play with his Friends of Hoop select basketball team, he often got singled out for his style of play.

“The guys would tease me about having an old man’s game — a little bit of everything but not very flashy,” he said. “I never was much of a showboater with the big numbers.”

Maybe so, but Trimble reminded people this season that the old man’s game still works.

And still wins.

Davis’ David Trimble drives against an Eastmont defender during a Dec. 3 game in the SunDome. (Andy Sawyer/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Davis’ senior point guard was named The Associated Press boys basketball player of the year for all classifications on Thursday in voting conducted by sports writers and editors from around the state.

Trimble, who was similarly recognized as the overall player of the year by The Seattle Times and Tacoma News Tribune, was the driving force behind the Pirates’ drive to the Class 4A state championship — the school’s first in 47 years.

Trimble became a three-time all-state pick alongside White Swan’s Lawrence Fiander (2B) and Sunnyside Christian’s Trevor Wagenaar (1B). That trio highlighted a dozen local players earning first-team honors and seven who were tabbed honorable mention.

The other boys’ first-team picks included the SCAC senior trio of Naches Valley’s Derek Huck, Granger’s Andrew Reddout and Mabton’s Josh Sanchez and Wagenaar’s teammate, Brandon Broersma.

White Swan’s Amber Jones was a repeat 2B all-state pick on the girls side. Wapato’s Sammi Jo Blodgett and East Valley’s Yasi Mohsenian were first-team 2A picks, and Riverside Christian’s Kendra Staymates and Sunnyside Christian’s Marisa Broersma were selected at 2B and 1B, respectively.

With a relatively modest scoring average of 14.6 points this season, Trimble was surprised by his selection as player of the year.

“Honestly, I never thought people respected my type of game. Enough to get something like this, anyway,” he said. “I didn’t have the big scoring. I always wanted to make the right pass and the key play on defense instead.”

A classic example was Trimble’s stat line in Davis’ 48-42 victory over Central Valley in the state championship game — 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and no turnovers.

The day before in the Pirates’ dramatic overtime win over Bellarmine Prep in the semifinals it was nearly the same — 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.

“I appreciate everyone who saw my game and thought it was worth voting for,” said Trimble, who still did plenty of scoring during his four years at Davis with 1,428 career points.

Teammate Devonte Luckett, who was Davis’ leading scorer in the state tournament, received honorable mention all-state honors in the 4A division.

As three-time all-state picks, Fiander and Wagenaar put up big career scoring numbers as well with final tallies of 1,627 and 1,500 points, respectively.

The girls player of the year went to Prairie’s Heather Corral, who led the Falcons to the Class 3A state championship and will be attending Washington in the fall. Heather’s older sister Ashley Corral was the state player of the year in 2008 before heading to USC.