ALL-EMPIRE BASKETBALL: Petaluma High’s senior Ryan Perez chosen to first team

Ryan Perez, who led the Petaluma High School basketball team to one of its best seasons in the last decade, has been chosen to the All-Empire Large School first team by The Press Democrat.

The senior led Petaluma to a 19-9 record, second place in the Sonoma County League, the SCL Tournament championship and into the North Coast Section playoffs.

Playing both guard and wing, he led the Trojans in scoring, was among the leaders in rebounding, was among the team’s best ball handlers and played tenacious defense.

Senior Gabe Knight from Windsor was Player of the Year and Tom Bonfigli of Cardinal Newman was Coach of the Year.

Neither Petaluma nor Casa Grande had a player named to the Cardinal Newman-dominated large-school girls team.

All five starters from Newman’s state-champion team were named to the first team. Junior Hailey Vice-Neat was chosen Player of the Year. Named to the first team were Avery Cargill, freshman; Maiya Flores, sophomore; Lauren Walker, junior; and Tal Webb sophomore. Santa Rosa’s Emily Codding was the only non-Cardinal placed on the first team.

Small Schools

St. Vincent de Paul’s Olivia DeGraca was named to the Small School second team. The senior led a young St. Vincent team to a 15-10 record, an 11-3 league mark and into the North Coast Section playoffs. She averaged 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, both team-leading marks.

Ashlyn Welton, a senior from Middletown, was Player of the Year. Anthony Bazzano of Middletown was Coach of the Year.

Two Mustang seniors, Liam Galten and Will Tarrant, were named to the small-schools second team.

Galten, who had stretches when he simply took over games for the Mustangs with his shooting, rebounding, ball handling and defense, led the well-balanced St. Vincent team with 12.8 points per game. Tarrant was the Mustangs’ leading rebounder and an intimidating defender in the paint.

They were key factors in St. Vincent’s 21-6 record and run to a share of the North Central League II championship.

Jayson McMillan of Cloverdale was the Player of the Year and his coach, Steve Barnardi was chosen Coach of the Year.