North Mecklenburg's Isaiah Evans named 2024 Gatorade NC Boys Basketball POY

Duke commit is the first North Mecklenburg player ever chosen for the award

Gary Adornato | Mar 21, 2024

North Mecklenburg's Isaiah Evans named 2024 Gatorade NC Boys Basketball POY /

Isaiah Evans of North Mecklenburg High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade North Carolina Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Evans is the first Gatorade North Carolina Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from North Mecklenburg.

The 6-foot-7, 185-pound senior forward led the Vikings to a 30-3 record and the Class 4A state championship this past season. Evans averaged 27.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, and he recorded 23 points and eight boards in the team’s 57-47 win over previously unbeaten New Hanover High in the state final. A McDonald’s All-American Game honoree, Evans was selected as a member of Team USA for the Nike Hoop Summit in April. He’s ranked as the nation’s No. 8 recruit in the Class of 2024 by ESPN.

Evans has volunteered locally as a youth basketball coach. “What is there not to say about the great Isaiah Evans?,” said Armard Moore, head coach of Mooresville High School. “He is a generational gift. This kid is the best high school basketball player I have ever coached against. He can shoot, he can get to his spots, he can pass, he can defend. The kid is really good.”

Evans has maintained a weighted 3.17 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball on scholarship at Duke University this fall.

Published Mar 21, 2024

GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.