Clark, Meek and James Return for Second Year : Boys: North County and city conferences place four players each on 10-man team. Grossmont and Metro have one apiece.

Tony Clark, who almost single-handedly led Christian High to the Division V state championship, is one of three returning players on The Times’ All-County boys’ basketball team.

Joining Clark as two-year selections are Clark James, San Diego High’s senior guard, and Erik Meek, San Pasqual’s junior center.

No school placed more than one player on the 10-man team, a contrast to last year, when two schools had two representatives each.

Four of the 10 players hail from the North County, four from the city. The Grossmont leagues and the Metro Conference each had one representative.

Players and coaches of the year will be announced at The Times’ awards breakfast April 1 at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel and Towers.

Glenn Ankton, 6-2 senior guard, El Camino--Ankton always guarded the opposing team’s best player, unless it was a big man. He picked up the scoring slack when El Camino’s leading scorer, Travis Gilley was injured for four games. During that time, El Camino was 4-0.

Ankton, whose team won the Division II section title and advanced to the Southern California Regional semifinals, averaged 17.5 points, six rebounds, 3.5 assists and two steals. He also had 23 three-pointers and shot 75% from the free throw line and 54% from the field.

“Glenn did a lot of things that didn’t show up in the stats,” El Camino Coach Ray Johnson said. “He had a great year because of tremendous work habits and a lot of dedication.”

Tony Clark, 6-8 senior forward, Christian--After a game, Clark would walk off the court while opponents shook their heads and uttered things such as “phenomenal, fantastic, awesome.”

A Valhalla transfer, Clark led Christian (19-12) to the Division V state final, the farthest the Patriots have gone. Christian lost Friday to Colusa, 62-48.

Clark, who will attend Arizona, led the state in scoring, averaging 43.1 points a game, and broke a number of section records:

--1,339 points for the season, easily breaking Bill Walton’s record of 960 set in 1970 at Helix.

--2,549 career points, surpassing Paul Halupa’s 1,982 set from 1968-70 at Bonita Vista.

--64 points against La Jolla Country Day, breaking the single game record of 61 set by Madison’s Mitchell Lilly in 1976.

Clark also broke Lilly’s 31.9-point single-season scoring average record set in 1977. He averaged 30.4 points at Valhalla last year.

Anthony Hill, 6-0 senior guard, University City--Coach Tom Medigovich said Hill was “the glue that kept us together.” Hill led the Centurions to their first Western League title and got them to the Division II final against El Camino and the first round of the Southern California Regionals.

Hill averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 assists. “He was very unselfish, he knew his role,” Medigovich said. Hill had one of his best games against Torrey Pines in the section semifinal, scoring 22 points.

Hill was co-player of the year in the Western League (with USDHS’s Peter Ellis) and will attend Colorado State on a football scholarship. He said he will try out for the basketball team as a walk-on.

Clark James, 6-5 senior guard, San Diego--James averaged 28.2 points and 17 rebounds per game and led San Diego to the semifinals of the Division I section playoffs.

In the playoffs, James was even more impressive, averaging 32 points and 16 rebounds.

He is considering scholarship offers from USD, UC Santa Barbara and Air Force. But the big schools didn’t pursue James until the midway point of this past season because of concern about his outside shooting ability.

That was one of James’ strong suits this year.

“He was a great, great high school player,” Coach Dennis Kane said. “He’s just an excellent kid, the kind that you get to coach maybe once every 20 years.”

Shane Knight, 6-9 senior forward, Mt. Carmel--Knight has already accepted a scholarship to play at Brigham Young.

This past season at Mt. Carmel, he led the team in scoring (19.5), rebounding (10.5), assists (4.6), steals (2.0) and blocked shots (3.3). He had 103 blocked shots in the season and 215 for his career.

Knight led Mt. Carmel to the Division I section final, where it lost to Sweetwater, 78-71.

Joe McDowell, 6-2 senior guard, Sweetwater--A four-year starter, McDowell teamed with Carlos Campbell and John Gilbert to lead No. 1 Sweetwater to a 78-71 victory over Mt. Carmel in the Division I championship game. Sweetwater lost just once--in the championship of the prestigious Burnaby tournament in British Columbia--before falling in triple overtime to Lynwood, 82-79, in the first round of the Southern California playoffs.

McDowell was listed as a guard, but his 14.1 rebounding average highlights his ability to play close to the basket. McDowell also scored 21.4 points per game. “He had confidence as a freshman, but this year he really took over as a leader,” Sweetwater Coach David Ybarra said.

Joe McNaull, 6-11 senior center, Monte Vista--When Joe McNaull showed up at Monte Vista as a gangly kid four years ago, few suspected he would develop into one of the most dominating big men in Grossmont Conference history. Coach Zach Peck said most of McNaull’s improvement came through hard work.

McNaull’s work ethic paid off when he signed a letter of intent to play at San Diego State next season.

McNaull was a dominating force while playing in a down year for the Grossmont. Although he averaged 21.2 points and 17 rebounds per game, McNaull really made his presence felt on defense. He had 123 blocked shots.

Erik Meek, 6-10 junior center, San Pasqual--Meek, one of the nation’s most heavily recruited juniors, averaged 27.9 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks this year, all improvements from last year.

“This was Erik’s biggest step, not only statistically, but in terms of dominating the game,” San Pasqual Coach Tom Buck said. “He now knows he has the ability to take over a game, offensively and defensively.”

In San Pasqual’s season-ending loss to El Camino in the section 2-A semifinals, Meek spent much of the game in foul trouble and finished with 21 points. “That just shows you how much Erik meant to our team,” Buck said.

Darryl Parker, 6-6 junior center, Rancho Buena Vista--Parker, son of former NBA player Sonny Parker, averaged 24.0 points per game.

Sure, he scored most of his points inside, as do most centers. But it wasn’t his size or physical strength that gave him the opportunity to do so.

No, it was his speed.

“Parker makes a lot of people look slow,” Coach John O’Neill said after Parker scored 33 points to lead Rancho Buena Vista to a 79-50 rout of Bonita Vista in the first round of the Division I section playoffs.

J.J. Stokes, 6-5 senior guard, Point Loma--Stokes is an accomplished football player, but his coach, David Aros, thinks he is even better in basketball.

“I really feel he has the potential to play Division I basketball,” Aros said. “He just has a good feel for the game.”

Stokes averaged 21.3 points and 12 rebounds, but Aros said his strength might be his demeanor.

“He has a very even-keeled temperament,” Aros said. “Nothing excited him. Nothing disappointed him.”

Kim Q. Berkshire, Rick Hazeltine, Jim Lindgren, Dave McKibben, Laura Palmer and Don Patterson contributed to this story.

THE BOYS’ TEAM

Pos. Name School Ht. Yr. Statistics (avg.) G Glenn Ankton El Camino 6-2 Sr. 17.5 pt., 6 reb. F Tony Clark Christian 6-8 Sr. 43.1 pt. G Anthony Hill University City 6-0 Sr. 13.7 pt., 5 asst. G Clark James San Diego 6-5 Sr. 28.2 pt., 17.0 reb. F Shane Knight Mt. Carmel 6-9 Sr. 19.5 pt., 10.5 reb. G Joe McDowell Sweetwater 6-2 Sr. 21.1 pt., 14.1 reb. C Joe McNaull Monte Vista 6-11 Sr. 21.2 pt., 17 reb. C Erik Meek San Pasqual 6-10 Jr. 27.9 pt., 11 reb. C Darryl Parker Rancho Buena Vista 6-6 Jr. 24.0 pt. G J.J. Stokes Point Loma 6-5 Sr. 21 pt., 5 blk.