Tarrant County Sports

07:38 PM CST on Thursday, March 11, 2004

By MELINDA WEAVER / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Andrew Frohman figures anyone on his basketball team could have been named Most Valuable Player of District 5-5A.

But when the all-district list was printed, Frohman's name topped it.

The Colleyville Heritage senior guard was a leader, scoring 12.1 points per game and dishing out 4.8 assists.

"He set the tone with his focus and ability to do what we needed him to do," coach Greg Gober said. "He could score when we needed. He led the team in assists. He's a great defender. He got the ball to the players who needed to get the ball."

But Frohman said everyone on his team, which went undefeated in district play for the second consecutive season and advanced to the regional final, played an important role.

Guard/forward Derek Johnson was named Defensive Player of the Year, and post Matthew Friday was named Newcomer of the Year along with Trinity's Kevin Brandsma. Jeremy Buttell, who led the team with 17.7 points per game, was on the first team, and guard/forward Bryan Friday was on the second team.

Gober shared the Coach of the Year award with Keller's Rod Johnson.

"It feels good and everything, but it doesn't really matter," Frohman said. "It could just have easily been Derek or Jeremy. I'm just a part of the team. I would trade it in in a second to have a win against Cedar Hill [in the regional final]."

Cedar Hill ended Colleyville Heritage's season with a 57-42 victory Saturday in the Class 5A Region I final at Midland. Colleyville Heritage finished 30-6.

"Going into each game, I don't know what I'm going to do," Frohman said. "If one person is playing well, I get them the ball. If we need defense, I play defense. If we need scoring, I try to shoot the ball more. I just try to do what the team needs."

Colleyville Heritage was filled with players like that, including Matthew Friday, who Gober said could have had a bigger scoring role had he wanted to.

"He sacrificed a lot," Gober said. "He did a lot of the dirty work so others could look good. If he was a little more selfish, he would have scored a lot more. But he knew that wasn't his role at this time."

Johnson also put aside scoring a lot of points to fill a role the team needed – defense.

"He was unquestionably the best defender in the district," Gober said. "He should have been last year, too. He led the team in steals, and that's not including all his deflections. He was able to guard small and big guys alike. It didn't matter."

Keller senior Cody Page, who averaged 16.9 points per game, was named Offensive Player of the Year.

"He played all five positions for us the last two years, and that's really valuable to us," said Keller coach Rod Johnson, whose team finished second in the district. "He could bring the ball down the floor or sit on the wing and catch and shoot or catch and pass. We also liked to post him up, which he could do. He was our go-to guy. We're definitely going to miss him."

E-mail mweaver@dallasnews.com