Wednesday, May 25, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Early in the high school basketball season, Liberty lost to Bishop Gorman in overtime of a basketball game that produced 192 total points. To end the high school basketball season, Liberty beat Bishop Gorman in overtime of a basketball game with 125 points.
2022 Sun Standout Awards
- Female Athlete of the Year: Aaliyah Gayles, Spring Valley basketball
- Male Athlete of the Year: Justin Crawford, Bishop Gorman baseball
- Female Rising Star: Rebecca Diaconescu, Palo Verde swimming
- Male Rising Star: Yuval Cohen, Palo Verde soccer
- Sun Standout Award: Jenavi Alejandro, Centennial wrestling
- Team of the Year: Coronado girls golf
- Moment of the Year: Moapa Valley football returns home to a state-championship parade
- Game of the Year: Bishop Gorman beats Liberty in thrilling double-overtime basketball affair
- Female Scholar Athlete of the Year: Zoey Robinson, Boulder City volleyball
- Male Scholar Athlete of the Year: Jeffrey Morosini, Durango football and wrestling
- Citizen of the Year: Nykita Rustad, Spring Valley cross country and track
- Hank Greenspun Lifetime Achievement Award: John Kennedy, official
- Coach of the Year: Kevin Soares, Liberty basketball
- Unsung Hero Awards: Marshall Cohen, referee, Kathleen Eakins, transportation, Laquedra Parks, police officer and basketball coach
The drastic downturn in points and pace was all by the design of Liberty coach Kevin Soares, who correctly surmised that the Patriots’ best chance to upset the Gaels was to slow the game down. One of the consensus top basketball coaches in Southern Nevada for the past 25 years, Soares now has the elusive state championship to complete his sterling résumé.
Soares won a pair of regional titles at Foothill High during a near 20-year run from the school’s inception in 1999 to 2018, when he found peace in a decision to move on.
“I had to come to the conclusion that my career was going to be fine with or without a state title,” Soares said. “Obviously that’s what we attempt to achieve every year, but it wasn’t that big of a deal or that big of a step down to be without it.”
That all changed when the Liberty job opened up, and while Soares spent his first season at the helm this year. Leading the team ranked No. 3 in Southern Nevada coming into the season—behind Gorman and rival Coronado—motivated Soares, and ultimately brought the most out of him.
“When I first met this group of kids, it was, ‘OK, you definitely have enough to do it,’’ he said. ‘’So I felt I had to do a better job as a coach, studying more film, study our opponents a lot more, and I thought I did a lot better job.”
Finalists
Bart Black, Basic tennis and basketball
Led the Wolves to a pair of state tennis titles, their first in both boys’ and girls’ tennis, as he
approaches 30 years at the school.
Matt Kranz, Arbor View bowling
Oversaw an Aggies’ team that did not lose a single match en route to the 5A state championship.
Andy Ostolaza, Silverado football
Guided the Skyhawks to the 4A state championship and an undefeated season with a 12-0 record and 628-128 season-long scoring margin.
