The 2018-19 high school boys basketball season was a historic one in the Northern Section with the all-time single-season and single-game records both shattered in overwhelming fashion.
Austin Larson of
Redding Christian (Palo Cedro) destroyed the single season record by scoring 1,014 points in 34 games. He helped the Lions win 33 straight games before finishing falling in the Northern California regional playoffs to Cornerstone Christian of Antioch.
Larson breaks the previous record of 823 points by Ricky King of Quincy. He also finished with 2,159 career points, which ranks No. 5 all-time. He averaged 29.8 points, 15 rebounds 6.1 assists and 3.4 steals per game. He also had seven triple doubles and 33 double-doubles.
Meanwhile,
Earl Johnson Jr. from
Ipakanni Early College Charter (Oroville) set the section record with a 71-point outing against Plumas Charter. The previous record was 57 points by Matt Bryant of Westwood and Tom Brown of Happy Camp. Johnson finished the season with a 35.1 point average, which ranks No. 7 in the nation according to the MaxPreps leaderboards.
Johnson finished his career with 1,439 points to rank among the top 65 players in section history.
Meanwhile,
Kaden Riccomini and
Kole Riccomini of
Mt. Shasta both finished their careers with over 1,000 points and they became the highest-scoring pair of teammates and brothers in section history. Kaden finished second in section history with 2,484 points. Only Bryant with 2,655 points had more. Kole, meanwhile, finished with 1,262 points which makes him the third all-time leading scorer in school history behind his brother and Jerry Brown (1,820 points).
A number of other Northern Section players finished their careers with more than 1,000 points. They include the following:
Matteo Mancasola,
American Christian Academy (Anderson), 1,767 points;
Matthew Edgar, American Christian Academy, 1,053;
Josiah Hutt,
Foothill (Palo Cedro) 1,081 (not including points scored during his sophomore season at Liberty Christian),
Anthony Davalos of
Williams with 1,156.
Kole (10) and Kaden Riccomini (30) each finished with over 1,000 career points for Mount Shasta and are the highest-scoring brother pair in Northern Section history.
Photo by Anthony Brunsman
For the first time since 2011, there are no juniors with over 1,000 points heading into their senior season. However, a total of six juniors have at least 800 career points. They include
David Earhart of
East Nicolaus (Nicolaus) with 935;
Shawn Sutton of American Christian Academy, 901;
Ty Isaksen of
Los Molinos, 874;
Jackson Armstrong of
Loyalton, 855;
Sean Proscher of
West Valley (Cottonwood), 836 and
Cameron Dingel of
Quincy, 718 (not including unknown totals from freshman year).
A total of four players scored over 600 points in the season, led by Larson's 1,014. Kaden Riccomini was next with 761 while Hutt had 627 and Kole Riccomini had 621. A total of 87 players in section history have scored over 600 points in a season. Kaden's total ranks No. 16 all-time.
Three girls players moved into the top 40 of all-time leading scorers in Northern Section history, led by junior
Meghan Weinrich of
Willows.
With 697 points in her junior season, Weinrich has 1,778 points to put her in 20th place all-time. She is 380 points away from No. 2 all-time, which is Rachelle Rogers of Shasta with 2,158 points. No. 1 Danielle Orsillo of Las Plumas is out of reach at 3,374 points.
Maddyson Tull of
Gridley finished her career with 1,712 points, which puts her No. 22 all-time.
Jadyn Matthews of
Enterprise (Redding), with 1,524 career points, which ties her for No. 37 all-time.
For the season, Matthews had 728 points, which is the most points scored in Northern Section history by someone not named Orsillo. The Las Plumas star had seasons of 1,072, 954 and 780. Matthews comes in at No. 4.
Weinrich's 697 points would rank No. 9 all-time, while Tull's 660 points ranks No. 13 all-time.
