Bee’s Best: Culture paves the way for Vance Walberg at Clovis West; Bee All-Stars named
Clovis West High boys basketball coach Vance Walberg says he enjoys teaching players.
One of those lessons — perseverance — was particularly important this season as the Golden Eagles rallied from double-digit deficits to beat Clovis North, Central and, in the Central Section Open Division championship game, St. Joseph.
Walberg is The Bee’s Coach of the Year.
“I still enjoy the game,” he said. “What I don’t enjoy is when I’m going to step down. I enjoy coaching kids; the kids we have at Clovis West are really a great group of kids. My whole thing you try to get across to them is when we play for 32 minutes in a game, that every possession means something. You know you’re going to goof up here and there, but what you don’t want to do is take those mental mistakes and make it a physical mistake. That’s one of the big things we try to preach to them.”
“When we got behind ... a lot of teams would just quit. Our kids believed in themselves and found a way to come back. You’re down 20 in the second half to a heck of a team, and most of the times it can end up in a 30- to 40-point loss. They found a way to turn it around and win the game. It just goes back to the hard work the guys put in and the belief that they have by working that hard. You hope something good comes from it and it sure did.”
Walberg, 65, has coached at Clovis West for 19 seasons, from 1990-2002 and 2017-2022. His record of 501-93 is fourth-best in section history, according to section historian Bob Barnett.
He has an overall prep record of 639-184 that includes 16 league titles and 10 section championships, part of a career that includes college (UMass assistant, Pepperdine head coach), NBA assistant (Sacramento Kings) and creator of the dribble-drive offense that has been so successful at Clovis West.
Walberg credits his assistants and other Clovis West coaches.
“The culture and the hard work of the kids paid off this year,” Walberg said. “Some years it doesn’t. You wish you would win every year, but every coach wishes that.”
Large School Player of the Year
Tyus Parrish-Tillman, Sr., F/C, Clovis West
After playing his first two seasons at Fresno Christian, Parrish-Tillman transferred to Clovis West and made a mark on the program.
Especially this past season when he played in 29 games and scored 465 points, averaging 16.0 points per game. He also was key on defense with 95 blocked shots.
Parrish-Tillman finished his career with 1,548 points, Barnett said.
Medium School Player of the Year
Carter Glick, Sr., G, Mt. Whitney
Glick averaged 18.5 points per game to help Mt. Whitney to a Central Section Division III championship.
His highlight game was 31 points and 16 rebounds against Kingsburg.
He wrapped his career at Mt. Whitney with 907 points — 612 this season.
Glick’s father, Jason, also played at Mt. Whitney from 1989-91 and scored 1,581 career points, second-best in school history.
Small School Player of the Year
Julius Olanrewaju, Fr., G, Coalinga
Olanrewaju scored 904 points in 29 games, the most points by a freshman and fourth-best in section history, Barnett said.
Olanrewaju averaged 31.2 points and 12.9 rebounds per game. The Horned Toads enjoyed a 26-3 season, 10-0 in the West Sierra League. Coalinga was pushed into Division III for the playoffs as the No. 10 seed and lost to eventual runner-up Atascadero.
Fan favorite
Orion Tomlinson, Sr., G, Fresno Christian
Tomlinson is The Bee’s fan favorite for player of the year.
He received 66% of the voting to get the nod from fans.
Tomlinson helped Fresno Christian to a 15-15 overall record and 10-0 in the East Sierra League, averaging 23.8 points per game. He was named the co-most valuable player in the ESL.
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Bee’s Best
Landon Almeida, Jr., Caruthers
Connor Amundsen, Soph., G, Clovis North
Dae-Shaun Bias, Sr. SF/PF, Sunnyside
Trey Carr, Sr., PG, Clovis West
Armari Carraway, Jr., PG, San Joaquin Memorial
Ryan Chavez, G, Sr., Immanuel
Mike Davis Jr., Jr., PF, San Joaquin Memorial
Jon Dillon, Sr., G, Sanger
Carter Glick, Sr., G, Mt. Whitney
Marquise Green, Sr., SG/SF, Central
Jaden Haire, Jr., F/C, Hanford West
Tyric Herod, Sr., G, Bullard
Niko Jones, Sr., PG, Clovis North
Logan Kilbert, Soph, G, Sierra
Jesus Lara, Sr., G, Dinuba
Matthew Luevanos, Sr., C/F, Fowler
Isaac Martinez, Jr., G, Clovis West
James Miller, Fr., G, Roosevelt
Jaeden Moore, senior, C, Central Valley Christian
Dane Odsather, Sr., G, Porterville
Julius Olanrewaju, G, Fr., Coalinga
Keine Prendez, Jr., G, Dinuba
Amerion Pruitt, Sr., G, McLane
Matthew Rivera, Sr., G, Porterville
Matthew Ruegge, Sr., G, Kingsburg
Lucas Sousa, Jr., G, Sierra Pacific
LaDanian Streets, Jr., G, Central
Justin Stroud, Soph, F/C, Central Valley Christian
Kam Thomas, Sr., F, Fowler
Camden Thompson, Sr., PG, Clovis East
Tyus Parrish-Tillman, Sr., F, Clovis West
Orion Tomlinson, Sr., G, Fresno Christian
Lejuan Watts, Sr., G/F, Bullard
Jaylon Walton, Sr., G, Hoover
Jackson Young, Soph, G, Clovis West
This story was originally published April 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
