Jordan Sibert 2009-10 Season:
CHICAGO (March 18, 2010) — In its 25th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, today announced Jordan Sibert of Princeton High School as its 2009-10 Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Sibert is the first Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Princeton High School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Sibert as Ohio’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Sibert joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Chris Paul (2002-03, West Forsyth HS, N.C.), Kevin Garnett (1992-93, Maudlin HS, S.C.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington HS, Colo.), Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame HS, Calif.), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood HS, Calif.) and Chris Bosh (2001-02, Lincoln HS, Texas).
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound senior guard had led the Vikings to a 19-4 record at the time of his selection. Entering Wednesday’s Division I regional tournament, Sibert boasted averages of 18.8 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.1 assists per game. The 2010 Southwest District Player of the Year, Sibert scored 26 points in a 59-44 win over Fairmont High in the district final and netted a season-high 36 points on 10-for-18 shooting in a 107-59 win over Middletown High on Feb. 12. Sibert is ranked as the nation’s No. 70 recruit in the Class of 2010.
Sibert has maintained a B average in the classroom. An active member of his church community, he has volunteered locally as a peer mentor at his school, a summer camp counselor and a youth basketball coach.
“Jordan Sibert is as unselfish of a player as you’ll ever find,” said Princeton High Head Coach Josh Andrews. “It’s very rare at this level to have your best player be as unselfish as he is. He’s all about finding the best way to win, even if that means giving the ball to one of his teammates. It makes him awfully fun to coach and it’s really helped our program succeed.
Sibert has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at Ohio State University this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE and the Gatorade high school sports leadership team, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Sibert joins recent Gatorade Ohio Boys Basketball Players of the Year C.J. McCollum (2008-09, GlenOak), B.J. Mullens (2007-08, Canal Winchester), and Jon Diebler (2006-07, Upper Sandusky) among the state’s list of former award winners.