Each week, publications from the The Southern California News Group’s 11 properties (Orange County Register, L.A. Daily News, Press-Enterprise, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Long Beach Press-Telegram, The Daily Breeze, San Bernardino Sun, Daily Bulletin, Redlands Daily Facts, Whittier Daily News and Pasadena-Star News) nominate Athletes of the Week for their respective region.
Each nominee is entered into the overall Southern California Athlete of the Week county-wide vote.
Click on the newspaper links below the athlete’s name to read about their performance from last week, and then vote for who you think is the best athlete this week.
Readers are allowed to vote multiple times. Voting ends at midnight, but final totals aren’t always immediately reflected due to processing.
BOYS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK VOTING
The overall winner will be announced on Friday, Jan. 31
Voting poll at bottom of the page.
Adrian Alvarez, Mary Star: Alvarez scored 16 points and made four key free throws in the closing seconds in a 45-42 win over St. Monica and concluded the week with 13 points in a 69-47 win over Bosco Tech.
Atin Wright, Fairmont Prep: He scored 64 points over two wins for the Huskies. Wright, a 6-1 guard, scored 31 points in a 79-59 win over Capistrano Valley Christian in a San Joaquin League game. He scored 33 points in a 66-61 nonleague win over King/Drew of Los Angeles. Wright signed with Cal State Northridge. He was the CIF-Southern Section Division 4AA player of the year last season when the Huskies won the 4AA championship.
George Ochoa, La Mirada: The 6-foot-7 sophomore had a huge week, leading the Matadores past Cleveland and to victories over Bellflower and Norwalk in their first two Suburban League games. Ochoa, who plays as a guard or forward, scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots against Cleveland. Later in the week he had 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks against Bellflower and 24 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and four assists against Norwalk. He is averaging 20 points and eight rebounds per game.
Brian Brown Jr., Citrus Hill: Brown averaged 31 points per game last week as the Hawks grabbed sole possession of first place in Mountain Pass League. Brown had 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists in a 56-53 win over Beaumont. He followed that game with 33 points and 10 rebounds and made eight 3-pointers, one shy of the school record, in a 70-44 win over Hemet. Brown is averaging 20.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game this season.
Andre Henry, St. Francis: Henry made a case to be the Mission League MVP with his performance in wins against Notre Dame 83-59 and Alemany 80-42. The UC Irvine commit scored 28 points against Notre Dame before tallying 33 points and 12 rebounds against Alemany. St. Francis, which plays its final Mission League game against Loyola on Wednesday, is 3-2 in league and tied for second with Chaminade behind Harvard-Westlake (5-0 in league).
Santiago Merlos, Aquinas: The midfielder and team captain has helped the Falcons to first place in the Ambassador League. He scored a goal in a 2-1 win against Woodcrest Christian and added an assist in a 4-1 win against Loma Linda Academy. Aquinas (7-0-3 in league) is ranked seventh in CIF-SS Division 6.
Adrian Ochoa, Bishop Amat: Ochoa scored in the final seconds of double overtime to lift Bishop Amat to a 3-2 victory over Cathedral. The victory ended the Phantoms’ 57-game league winning streak and gave Amat its first win over Cathedral since 2009. Bishop Amat trailed 2-0 at halftime. The victory kept the Lancers undefeated this season at 10-0-2 and 4-0 in the Del Rey League.