Published: March 26, 2009 08:00 pm      

Appling is tops in Class A basketball

Teammate won Mr. Basketball

DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit Pershing ended the regular season as the top-ranked team, according to voters assigned to the Associated Press Class A panel.

In addition to that honor, Pershing boasts Michigan's Mr. Basketball (Derrick Nix), and now it also has the AP Class A Player of the Year in Keith Appling.

Appling is a 6-2 junior who started on the junior varsity team as a freshman before averaging 21 points a game varsity as a sophomore.

This season, Appling averaged 23 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. He made a verbal commitment to Michigan State.

Appling joins 10 other players on AP's first team; five are seniors, five are juniors and there's one sophomore, LaDontae Henton of Lansing Eastern.

The other juniors selected are Maurice Jones of Saginaw Arthur Hill, Roy Marble of Southfield-Lathrup, Devin Oliver of Kalamazoo Central and Trey Zeigler of Mount Pleasant. The seniors are Nix, Derek Dennis of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, DeAngelo Hailey of Detroit Central, Michael Hollingsworth of Utica and Dion Sims of Orchard Lake St. Mary's.

Jones, at 5-7, is a super quick point guard who is as exciting a player as there is in the state. Jones averaged 10 assists, and 27 points a game and shot 49 percent from 3-point range.

Marble is the son of former Flint Beecher star Roy Marble. This Marble is a 6-4 wing who averaged 21.3 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and four steals.

Oliver is a versatile 6-5 forward who averaged 17.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 4.6 steals.

Zeigler, the son of Central Michigan coach Ernie Zeigler, is 6-5 and shot 48 percent from 3-point range. He averaged 24 points and nine rebounds.

Nix, at 6-9 and 290 pounds, muscled his way to 15 points and 15 rebounds per game.

Dennis, who's also a fine baseball player, is a 6-3 wing who averaged 21.3 points and made 53 percent of his field goal tries.

Hailey is a 6-2 guard who was named Mr. PSL, an award given to the league's top senior. He averaged 23.6 points and 5.5 rebounds.

Hollingsworth is a 6-1 guard who missed the first four games because of a fractured wrist. He came back to average 24.5 points.

Sims is a 6-5 guard/forward who signed with Michigan State for football. He averaged 21.9 points and 9.4 rebounds.

Henton is a 6-6 forward who averaged 21 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.7 blocks.