MURFREESBORO — One of the top college basketball prospects in the country brought home the top honor in Class AAA.
Memphis East 7-foot senior James Wiseman won his first Mr. Basketball award Tuesday night at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center.
“It’s a great accomplishment for me to win it,” said Wiseman, who averages 23.5 points and 14.4 rebounds. “This is a great award. It’s a prestigious award.”
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Wiseman, a Memphis signee, played at Ensworth for two seasons before moving to Memphis to play for Penny Hardaway at East.
He was one of 10 recipients of the Mr. and Miss Basketball awards. Three of the winners — Ensworth’s Dontavia Waggoner, Webb School’s Keon Johnson and Marshall County’s KJ Johnson — were from the Nashville area.
Keon Johnson and KJ Johnson both won their second Mr. Basketball trophy in consecutive years. Keon claimed the DII-A and KJ won the Class AA honor.
“I’m tied with mom now,” said Keon, whose mother Conswella Sparrow Johnson won the 1994 and 1995 Class AAA Miss Basketball trophies while playing at Shelbyville.
Knoxville Webb senior Casey Collier, a Lipscomb University signee, became the first in her family to win the award.
“I’m the first one,” said Collier, who averaged 18 points, five assists and five steals this year. “It’s nice, but I think Katie — my older sister — should have gotten one, too. But it’s good.”
Katie Collier is a senior on MTSU’s women’s team.
Waggoner, fresh off being named the DII-AA state tournament MVP, claimed her first Miss Basketball award a year after being named a finalist.
“It shows me that hard work pays off,” Waggoner said. “I just have to keep going harder.”
