Mansfield’s O’Neal wins Shreveport-area preseason fan’s choice boys basketball POY
Mansfield guard Jaylen O’Neal topped 25 athletes from 25 Shreveport-Bossier City area basketball teams to win the 2023 Times Fan’s Choice Player of the Year recognition.
O’Neal and his supporters amassed 15,742 votes (36.4%) of the 43,296 votes cast to garner the honor. Finishing a strong second was Arcadia’s Kylon Clark, who brought in 10,924 votes (25.2%) in the online only voting. Red River’s Jayden Wells was third with 5,359 votes.
Supporters of the schools and athletes visited shreveporttimes.com to vote from last Tuesday through Monday night.
O’Neal will be presented a sports backpack with a Raising Cane’s boxed lunch gift card courtesy of Raising Cane’s, the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission and The Times.
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The 5-foot-7, 135-pound O’Neal combines with fellow junior Sharmal Booker to give the Wolverines a solid one-two punch.
“Jaylen is one heck of an athlete,” Mansfield coach Reginald Williams said. “Who else can say their starting point guard is also the state leader in interceptions for their second-round, six-game win streak football team? He’s going to play a major part in what we do this season, and I can’t wait to see it come into fruition.”
Also on the ballot were Landon Anderson, Lakeside; Aidan Anding, Ruston; Brhaelyn Brown, Parkway; Spencer Dunn, Homer; Jeremiah Evans, Southwood; Nikious Green, Northwood; Brandon Henderson, Woodlawn; Rondae Hill, Calvary; Dale Howard, North DeSoto; Tre Jackson, Airline; Connor Johnson, Cedar Creek; Javon Johnson, Bossier; Bowman Lovell, Haughton; Greg Manning, Benton; Delarrious Marshall, Green Oaks; CJ Mason-Jones, BTW; Christopher Shiflett, Evangel; Andre Sowell, Lakeview; Jyrin Sowell, Captain Shreve; Jacob Stewart, Huntington; Cage Van Norman, Loyola and Ayden Warren, St. Mary’s.
Jimmy Watson covers Shreveport-Bossier area sports. Email him at jwatson@shreveporttimes.com and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Mansfield’s O’Neal wins Shreveport-area fan’s choice boys basketball POY
