Simon, Epps Named Year’s Top Basketball Players

High-scoring Jerry Simon and Coach Sandy Greentree, the main components in Marshall High’s drive to the City 3-A basketball championship, were named The Times’ Glendale-area player and coach of the year.

Eagle Rock’s Tina Epps and Hoover’s Bob Henry were named the girls player and coach of the year at The Times’ basketball awards breakfast Saturday in Anaheim.

Simon, who set a City record by averaging 37.8 points a game in league, led the Barristers to a 22-4 record. They were defeated by Crenshaw, Simi Valley and Van Nuys during the season and by Fresno Edison in the state regionals.

Crenshaw went on to win the Division I state championship, while Simi Valley reached the Southern Section 4-A title game. Marshall got revenge on Van Nuys by beating the Wolves in the City 3-A semifinals.

Headed for Penn

Simon, a 6-5 senior, finished the season with a 33.2 scoring average. He will play at the University of Pennsylvania next year.

Greentree won his fourth league title in seven years at Marshall. His record is 107-48, and his teams have gone 51-9 in League B the last six years. With no player taller than Simon, Greentree led Marshall to its first City basketball title.

Epps, a 5-10 senior center, earned player of the year honors for the second straight season. She averaged 21 points and 17.8 rebounds for an Eagle Rock team that reached the City 3-A quarterfinals.

“She has a good sense for the game,” Coach Ivan Simon said. “While a lot of girls are just developing that sense, she already has that, especially on offensive rebounding.”

Four years ago, Henry took over a program at Hoover that was, in his words, “very depressed.”

The Tornadoes won an average of two games a year before Henry took charge. Last season Hoover went 12-8 and this year qualified for the playoffs for the first time.

Hoover went 15-6 overall and 7-3 in the Pacific League, two of the losses coming to Muir, which spent a good part of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today.