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The 6-foot-4 junior averaged a double-double (26.2 points and 10.3 rebounds) and culminated by leading the Class AA state tournament field in per-game averages in points (24.0) and rebounds (13.7), as well as total assists (15), steals (eight) and blocks (six) as Wheeling Central won three tournament games by an average of 30.3 points.

It’s nothing coach Mel Stephens hasn’t seen from his star.

“He leads by example,� Stephens said. “Him and his [younger] brother [Luke] are constantly in the gym working to get better. He makes everyone else better. He does whatever we need to do to win.�

His state tournament run was just an extension of that.

And Sancomb’s statistical takeover of the state tournament?

“I think he was totally focused on winning a state championship, and he was doing whatever it took for that to happen,� Stephens said.

“He’s got really great point guard skills,� Williamstown coach Scott Sauro said after watching Sancomb score 26 points and grab 15 rebounds in a 59-40 state championship victory. “If he was 5-foot-10, he would be a really good point guard. But he is 6-5. He sees the floor so well. He makes everyone around him better. He gets the ball to his teammates, every pass right on the money.�

If he resembles a coach on the floor, it comes naturally.

Sancomb’s dad Danny is the coach at California University (Pennsylvania).

Speaking of the Vulcans, after a season that saw Wyoming East pick up its first state tournament win since 2016, two Warriors — freshmen Broc Johnson and Talan Muscari — were named to the first team.

Their coach, Kent McBride, is a former coach at California (Pennsylvania).

Muscari, whose dad Evan played in four state championship games and won two titles at Wyoming East, averaged 12.2 points and 6.5 assists per game, including 74 in the last nine games before heading to ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä — all Warriors victories.

He led Wyoming East in scoring in both of its state tournament games and averaged 15.5 points.

The 6-foot-4 Johnson was the Warriors’ leading scorer, averaging 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds, and also was generally responsible for guarding the other team’s leading scorer. Wyoming East gave up 48.3 points per game during a 19-4 season that ended with a 61-51 loss to Williamstown in the Class AA semifinals.

“There were a lot of expectations coming into the season, but [having both on the all-state first team] exceeds everything,� McBride said. “It comes back to their work ethic. I noticed when I got here [in early January] that it was those two rolling the Gun [shooting apparatus] back on the floor after practice and getting more shots up.�

For the first time, Wyoming East and Westside both made the state tournament.

Westside’s Kadien Vance, a first-team all-state football player after quarterbacking the Renegades to the playoffs, did the same in basketball and was equally rewarded with a first-team selection.

Vance averaged 14.6 points and 8.5 rebounds this season. In Westside’s win against Doddridge County in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, its first tournament win since 2015, Vance had 26 points, including a career-best six 3s (on 6-of-8 shooting).

Williamstown’s Parker Schramm and Jayden Bryant were both named to the all-state first team after a run to the Class AA title game.

Both were named to the Class AA all-tournament team.

Schramm, a 6-foot-2 senior, and Bryant, a 6-4 senior, both averaged more than 17 points per game for the Yellowjackets, who have won three straight Little Kanawha Conference titles and haven’t lost a conference game in three years.

“Parker has been a starter since his freshman year,� Sauro said. “And Jayden has been starting since his sophomore year. They have been keys on our team, and we are going to miss them and our other senior Cruz [Isaly, the captain of the all-state second team].

“Parker is just a well-rounded player. He has always been able to shoot the ball, but this year he added taking the ball to the basket and it really transformed his game to where he is now. He has just been an outstanding leader.

“Jayden is one of the most improved players we have had in the program, and his ability to get to the rim really was a difference for us.�

Other first-team members:

• Logan’s Lucas Lambert, a freshman, led the Wildcats back to the state tournament, averaging 18 points and 6.1 rebounds.
• Ritchie County 6-7 junior Isaac Hodges was one of the state’s most prolific players, averaging 23 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.4 steals.
• Bluefield’s Jase Smith averaged 20.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists after missing most of last year’s Beavers run to the Class AA state championship game. He scored 33 against a defensive-minded Class AAAA state tournament team in Woodrow Wilson and 31 in an upset of James Monroe in the region tournament in back-to-back games at the end of the season.
• ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Catholic’s Zaden Ranson, a holdover from the 2024 state champion Irish, was also a first-team pick after he averaged 15.4 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, while shooting 54% from the field.