Quartet honored with All-CIF first-team accolades in boys’ basketball
For the St. Francis High basketball team, it enjoyed its most successful season in program history.
Two of the biggest reasons for the Golden Knights’ success came in the form of consistent efforts throughout the season from Kyle Leufroy and Evan Crawford. The duo helped St. Francis advance to the CIF Southern Section Division III-A championship game and the second round of the CIF State tournament.
The duo was rewarded for its contributions Monday, when the CIF Southern Section Office unveiled its All-CIF awards.
Also garnering All-CIF accolades were Robert Cartwright of Flintridge Prep and Koko Kurdoghlian of La Cañada. The CIF Southern Section office unveiled the first teams for the 12 divisions.
Leufroy, Crawford and Kurdoghlian were named to the Division III-A team, while Cartwright picked up Division IV-AA recognition.
Leufroy, a junior guard and an All-Mission league first-team pick, averaged 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and four assists per game for the Golden Knights, who finished 20-13, 4-8 in league to tie for fifth place.
“By Kyle getting All-CIF, it’s a tribute to all of his hard work,” said St. Francis Coach Ray O’Brien, who shares the coaching chores with Jeff Stephens. “He’s unselfish and a great passer.
“He showed tremendous maturity and we could always depend on him.”
Crawford, a senior forward, averaged 10.5 points, nine rebounds and four assists per contest.
Crawford proved to be an ideal compliment to Leufroy.
“He could rebound, pass and defend,” O’Brien said. “Often times, he had to take on the other team’s top players.”
Under the steady play of Kurdoghlian, a sophomore guard, the Spartans went 23-7 and 10-0 in the Rio Hondo League for first place. Kurdoghlian was named the league’s player of the year after averaging 15 points and nine rebounds per game. In addition, he collected 120 assists and 65 steals and helped the Spartans reach the semifinals.
Kurdoghlian became the first sophomore on the Spartans to pick up All-CIF accolades since Billy Hofman accomplished the feat in 2000-01.
“Koko just improved so much,” La Cañada Coach Tom Hofman said. “It seemed like he just got better every game.
“He can also rebound very well and he is on pace to break the school rebounding record.”
The Stanford-bound Cartwright, a senior guard, averaged 21 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.7 steals per contest in 15 games despite missing about 10 games with injuries. Flintridge Prep finished 11-14 and 7-1 in the Prep League for first place. Cartwright was tabbed as the league’s most valuable player. Flintridge Prep was eliminated in the first round.
