Spain Park’s Austin Wiley takes top prize, 2 more receive All-State honors

The Alabama Sports Writers Association bestowed high marks on Spain Park’s Austin Wiley and Jamal Johnson and Hoover’s Jailyn Maddox, as they distributed postseason honors.

Wiley was named the overall Class 7A Player of the Year, beating out Tevin Brown of Fairhope and Kalin Johnson of Gadsden City, who was knocked out of the Northeast Regional Finals by Wiley’s Jags.

The junior Auburn commit led the Jags, averaging 27.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game in 31 games this season. He was named first team All-State as well. Spain Park head coach Donnie Quinn pined for his team to get Wiley the ball all season long, and rode the ferocity Wiley played with down low all the way to the Class 7A Final Four.

Teammate and point guard Johnson played a huge part in that success as well, and garnered second team honors. He posted numbers of 18 points, seven rebounds and 4.4 assists per contest.

“Jamal runs our team,” Quinn said of Johnson following the state semifinals. “If I can’t be out there playing myself, then I’ve got to have somebody out there who is in charge. That’s what he does.”

Maddox was a second team nominee. The Virginia Commonwealth University signee averaged 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in her senior season, and scored over 1,000 points in her career. She was named to the North-South All-Star Game in 2015 and in March played in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game, where she won the Alabama MVP award, scoring a game-high 19 points in the game.

“Jailyn has been a phenomenal person, student and athlete,” said Tiffany Frederick, this year’s Hoover head coach. “I have watched her grow over four years into a young lady that is ready for the next level. She is an extremely hard worker. She has been and will continue to be a great example for this program, school and city of Hoover.”