Wheeling Central's Eli Sancomb drives the basketball during the Maroon Knights' state semifinals game against Wayne. Sancomb repeated as captain of the WVSWA Class AA All-State First Team, released Wednesday.

WHEELING — Last year seemed like it would be hard to top for Wheeling Central’s Eli Sancomb, who averaged 25.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.6 steals per game in his junior season, helping Wheeling Central to a Class AA state championship.

That proved only to be the warmup for Sancomb and the Maroon Knights, though, as the Liberty commit upped his game for his senior campaign, led Central to an undefeated season and another state championship, and now has the honor of captaining the 2025-2026 Class AA All-State boys’ basketball team, selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

Sancomb managed to eclipse his junior season this year with per-game averages of 31.7 points, 12.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists as he captains the All-State squad for the second year in a row.

“To do even better this year just says a lot about how hard he works,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said of Sancomb. “He’s never satisfied, he’s in the gym constantly trying to get better. And, you know, he did that this year. Him getting better made us better.”

“Because of the numbers he can put up offensively, I think his defense gets overlooked, but he’s a very good defensive player. I mean, he improved in that area this year a ton. He’s able to guard one through five and he’s long enough and he’s athletic enough to be able to do that. I think that’s definitely the part of his game that gets overlooked just because he’s so good offensively.”

Sancomb is joined on the first team by teammate and fellow senior Max Olejasz, who averaged 14.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting upwards of 65% from the field. Olejasz also made major strides this year in Central’s back-to-back championship season.

“He improved his game immensely,” Stephens said. “Part of that, with Steven [Brodegard] playing inside, we were able to move Max out on the perimeter a little bit. He’s got more than decent guard skills, and he was able to get out there this year and show people that he can handle the ball, that he can shoot from out there. A lot of his game was inside, scoring-wise, but we felt very confident in his ability to shoot the 3 and play on the perimeter. Again, there’s another guy that, because of what he does offensively, I think his defense and rebounding gets overlooked a little bit too.”

Central is not the only school with a pair of first teamers.

Wyoming East, who finished as Class AA runners-up, had a pair of players earn first-team spots.

Broc Johnson, already a two-time all-state first teamer now as a sophomore, earned back-to-back recognition after leading his Warriors in scoring with 16.4 points per game.

Johnson is joined by teammate Keegan Davidson, a junior who averaged 13.3 points per game. It is Davidson’s first all-state first team selection.

Wyoming East finished 22-3 this season and will return much of their core next year, including Johnson and Davidson.

Other state tournament teams were also led by players who earned spots on the Class AA First Team, including Bluefield’s Jase Smith, Logan’s Lucas Lambert, Wayne’s Colton Heck and Frankfort’s Jeremy Phillips.

Jase Smith led Bluefield to the state semifinals and finished his senior season averaging 23.6 points per game. It is the second First Team honor that Smith has received.

Wayne likewise made it to the state semifinals with Colton Heck at the head. The senior averaged 18.2 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, and 3.2 assists per game.

The Logan Wildcats enjoyed a stellar season from sophomore Lucas Lambert, who finished with per-game averages of 23.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals to earn his

second All-State first-team nod. Frankfort senior Jeremy Phillips put up 23 points per game to go with three rebounds and 1.6 assists.

The first-team squad is completed by Charleston Catholic’s Zaden Ranson and James Monroe’s Kadyn Hines.

Ranson averaged a double-double in his senior go-round, averaging 13.5 points, 11 rebounds, 4.3 assists and two steals per game to earn an impressive third first team accolade.

Kadyn Hines starred for the Mavericks, finishing his junior year with per-game averages of 18.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

The Class AA all-state second team is captained by Wyoming East junior Talan Muscari, who averaged 12.4 points per game this season. He is joined on the All-State Second team by Wyoming East’s Konnor Fox, Buffalo’s Asher Flanery, Doddridge County’s Jaden Solomon, Wheeling Central’s Luke Sancomb, Wayne’s Landon Preece, Charleston Catholic’s Wilkes Aliff, Logan’s Ivan Miller, James Monroe’s Ryan Mann, and Westside’s Bradyn Waldron.

Wooden plaques in the shape of West Virginia that include the player’s name, school, licensed WVSWA logo and year of the honoree are available to all-state first-team, second-team and honorable-mention selections and can be purchased from the Bear Wood Co. through Bearwoodcompany.com.

Class AA

First team

Eli Sancomb, Wheeling Central, (captain) 6-3, Sr.

Max Olejasz, Wheeling Central, 6-7, Sr.

Broc Johnson, Wyoming East, 6-5, Soph.

Keegan Davidson, Wyoming East, 6-0, Jr.

Jase Smith, Bluefield, 6-4, Sr.

Zaden Ranson, Charleston Catholic, 6-4, Sr.

Lucas Lambert, Logan 6-4, Soph.

Kadyn Hines, James Monroe, 6-4, Jr.

Colton Heck, Wayne, 6-2, Sr.

Jeremy Phillips, Frankfort, 5-11, Sr.

Second team

Talan Muscari, Wyoming East (captain), 5-9, Jr.

Konnor Fox, Wyoming East, 6-9, Jr.

Asher Flanery, Buffalo, 5-10, Jr.

Jaden Solomon, Doddridge County, Sr.

Luke Sancomb, Wheeling Central, 5-6, Jr.

Landon Preece, Wayne, 6-4, Soph.

Wilkes Aliff, Charleston Catholic, 6-4, Sr.

Ivan Miller, Logan, 6-4, Sr.

Ryan Mann, James Monroe, 6-4, Sr.

Bradyn Waldron, Westside, 5-8, Soph.

Honorable Mention

Caleb Atkinson, Williamstown; Ashton Arthur, Independence; Peyton Bailes, Midland Trail; Robey Brown, Summers County; Joel Elliott, Clay County; Liam Daniels, Liberty; Gavin Geisse, Oak Glen; Brock Green, Independence; Cooper Hatfield, Westside; June Jackson, Sissonville; Kaleb Kuhn, Petersburg; Chris Kump, Moorefield; Nico Kusic, Wheeling Central; Cole Lemasters, Tyler Consolidated; Wesley Mallett, Buffalo; Devin Maynard, Mingo Central; Graham Saas, South Harrison; Lane Taylor, James Monroe; Landon Thomas, Doddridge County; Brady Toler, Braxton County; Jerod Trent, Doddridge County; Carson Varney, Ravenswood; Cole Vincent, Lincoln; Kycin Waites, Frankfort; Jace Watts, Scott; Bentley Williamson, Logan; Colin Williamson, Scott.