Pair shares All-CIF MVP
Mike McGlashan’s eyes were drawn to the Player of the Year category when he got the All-CIF Southern Section team results his junior year, even though he was named to the division’s first-team.
“I remember looking at the MVP and thinking about how cool it would be to win it,” McGlashan said.
He doesn’t have to wonder anymore. McGlashan saw both his name, along with that of teammate Matt Faber, listed as Division III-AA co-Players of the Year.
Teammate Dario CiVon was honored on the division’s second-team.
McGlashan and Faber were the two main reasons why the La Cañada High boys’ basketball team enjoyed an incredible run through the playoffs this season. The Spartans (30-4, 10-0 in Rio Hondo League) clawed their way to the CIF State Division III Southern California Regional finals, winning their first CIF Southern Section Division III-AA title in 19 years along the way.
As co-players of the year, McGlashan and Faber beat out nationally ranked NCAA-prospects, including Price’s Askia Booker and La Verne Lutheran’s Grant Jerrett.
“It’s a great honor for all three of these guys. There’s so many good basketball players in this division, just like in every other one,” said La Cañada Coach Tom Hofman, who was also recognized as CIF Southern Section Division III-AA’s coach of the year for guiding the Spartans through a remarkable playoff run.
Throughout the regular season, McGlashan, a senior guard, averaged 17.1 points, 4.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and two steals a game and earned the title of Rio Hondo League’s Most Valuable Player. He averaged 13.8 points a game in the playoffs.
“No question, he is one of the top guards of all time in La Cañada history,” Hofman said. “This year, he really emerged and played as well as anybody in school history.”
Faber was a solid contributor for the Spartans in the regular season, putting up 9.1 points and 9.1 rebounds a game. The senior forward stepped up in the playoffs after Hofman asked him to start looking for more opportunities to score before the postseason opener.
“We were too dominated by Dario and Mike, so we needed a third scorer and he stepped up and did a great job for us,” Hofman said of Faber, who averaged 13.2 points and 9.1 rebounds in the postseason.
Faber ended up breaking La Cañada’s single-season rebounding record against La Verne Lutheran, bringing down his 331 rebound of the year with 2:59 left in the CIF State Division III Southern California Regional finals. He was named to Rio Hondo League’s first team.
“I think what impressed me the most was the way he rebounded,” Hofman said. “We knew he was a good rebounder, but we didn’t know he’d be that good.”
CiVon was a deep threat, who could spread the floor and provided balance to the Spartans’ offensive attack. The three-point specialist also made the Rio Hondo League first team.
“It’s good to have a lot of different weapons, and that’s what we had,” CiVon said. “Mike was a slasher, Faber was there for put-backs — but he could hit threes and no one really knew that — and I could hit outside shots. We were so multi-faceted, and I think that really helped us.”
Hofman said CiVon’s mere presence on the court opened up the game for McGlashan and Faber.
“Dario did a great job, he improved greatly from last year to this year,” said Hofman of CiVon, who averaged 15 points a game in the regular season.
Senior point guard Mason Holle and senior forward Sean Mintie also made the Rio Hondo League second team. Riley Moore, La Cañada’s sixth man at point guard, and Yaughnt Yetenekian, a senior forward, were honorable mention all-league picks.