Marshall Named Big 10 Coach of the Year; Five Bridgeport Players on All-Big 10 Conference Team
By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on March 24, 2025
Bridgeport boys basketball coach Dave Marshall has been named the Big 10 Conference Coach of the Year and five Indians have been named to the All-Big 10 Team.
Landon Sanders and Phoenix Sickles are first-team selections, while Jack Spatafore, Carter Zuliani and Anderson McDougal are second-team selections.
Fairmont Senior’s Trea Cumberledge was named the Big 10 Player of the Year.
The All-Big 10 Team as well as Coach and Player of the Year are selected by the Big 10 coaches.
Marshall coached BHS to a 26-1 record and a Class AAA state championship, just the third in school history. He also became just the third coach in the history of the state to win a girls basketball state championship (2013) and a boys state championship.
Sanders averaged 12.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Sickles averaged 12.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
On Saturday following the Indians’ 62-40 victory against Nitro in the championship game, Sickles was named the Class AAA state tournament MVP and was one of four BHS players named to the all-tournament team along with Sanders, Zuliani and McDougal.
Spatafore averaged 10.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game. McDougal averaged 9.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Zuliani averaged 8.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Joining Sanders and Sickles as first-team selections are Buckhannon-Upshur’s Jerin Westfall, Lewis County’s Ben Putnam, Liberty’s Baustin Bowers, Elkins’ Levi Wanless, Robert C. Byrd’s Logan Boyce, Preston’s Easton Hayes, North Marion’s Conner Balwanz, Lincoln’s Aidan Rice, Robert C. Byrd’s Camryn Newsaun and Philip Barbour’s Malachi Poling.
In addition to McDougal, Zuliani and Spatafore, the third team consists of Fairmont Senior’s Darrell Claybrook, East Fairmont’s River McClain, Fairmont Senior’s Julz Butler, North Marion’s Quinten Harbert, Lewis County’s Manny Robinson, B-U’s Brody McDainels, Preston’s Aiden Schmidl and Lewis County’s Maddox Gillespie.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows (from left): Sanders, Spatafore, Marshall, Sickles and Zuliani following the postgame press conference after Bridgeport's victory against Nitro in the state title game. Bottom photo is of McDougal cutting down the net on the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center floor. Photos by Joe LaRocca.
