NEW ORLEANS, La. – Archbishop Shaw basketball star Kameron Johnson has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for January.
Monthly award-winners are selected by the Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Johnson is the first Shaw athlete to earn the honor since football star Daniel Borne was recognized in November of 2006.
Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month
Johnson scored 30 or more points three times in January as he led Archbishop Shaw to an 8-1 record. The senior guard averaged 25.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.5 steals per game for the Eagles. Johnson had a huge game in a 77-69 win over Catholic-Baton Rouge on Jan. 27 as he scored 36 points to take down a squad that had won 10 of its last 11 games. The 5-9 guard had also posted a 36-point effort to open the month against Tupelo in the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic – he scored 70 total points in three tournament games to earn All-Tournament recognition. He also added 30 in a 62-52 win over Helen Cox (1/31), 23 in a 78-55 win over West Jefferson (1/20) and 20 in a 58-44 win over Country Day (1/12). The Loyola signee opened February with a 21-point effort, including his 2,000th career point in a win over Higgins.
Johnson earned the honor over four other basketball stars, a bowling champion and a standout competitive cheerleader.
- Riley Elwood, a junior two-handed bowler from Archbishop Shaw, won the boys under-18 title at the 27th annual Louisiana Grand Prix tournament January 29 at Creole Lanes in Houma. Elwood defeated Brother Martin senior Ashton Catalinotto, 246-237, in the championship match to complete a 4-0 run through the double-elimination bracket.Elwood, in his first season as a high school bowler, is averaging 217 for five games, second-highest in the area behind Catalinotto, as he has led the Eagles to a 3-0 start.
- Jaylen Forbes, had a big month for the Tulane men’s basketball team as it posted a 6-2 month of January. The 6-5 junior guard averaged 22.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game over the eight games. The Florence, Miss., product scored 20 or more points in seven of the Green Wave’s eight games during January, including a season-best 31 in a 97-88 win over SMU (1/11) followed by 27 points in a win over UCF (1/14) as he was named the College Insider Lute Olson National Player of the Week. He also added 25 in a win over Wichita State (1/25). The win over Wichita State jump-started Tulane’s current four-game winning streak as it has improved to 16-7 on the season – already three more wins than last year’s total. Tulane is also 9-3 and in second place in the American Athletic Conference. For the season (through 2/7), Forbes leads the team with 19.0 points per game (second in the AAC).
- In the month of January, Jalen Galloway averaged 17.6 points and 8.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists as he led the Loyola men’s basketball team to a 6-2 record and the No. 15 ranking in the NAIA National Top 25. The 6-7, 220-pound forward had a huge game against Blue Mountain on Jan 12, tallying 25 points and 20 rebounds in a key SSAC victory for the Wolf Pack. He also posted a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds in a 67-63 loss to Brewton-Parker on Jan. 19. His biggest shot of the month came on Jan. 3 against No. 8 Faulkner when he buried a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Loyola to an 82-79 victory. For the season, the Idaho product leads the Wolf Pack with 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Loyola currently (through 2/7) has a 19-4 overall record and it sits atop the SSAC with a 14-2 mark in conference play.
- Kennedy Hansberry, a senior guard from Atlanta, keyed the Loyola women’s basketball team’s 8-1 month of January by averaging a team-best 14.4 points per game over the nine games. She also had 4.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game while averaging over 33 minutes each outing. She posted a season-high 24 points to go with four rebounds and four steals in a 76-61 win over William Carey on Jan. 26 – she also dished out four assists to move into fourth place all-time at Loyola (she moved up to third by the end of the month). The 5-8 Hansberry also had a 19-point effort against Brewton-Parker (Jan. 19), which lifted her into the top-10 all-time in scoring in school history, and a 17-point outing in a win over Blue Mountain (Jan. 12). For the season, Hansberry is averaging 13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The Wolf Pack currently (through 2/7) owns a 21-1 overall record and the No. 10 ranking in the nation. In SSAC play, they sit atop the league with a 14-1 mark.
- Miracle Irving led the Amite High School girls’ basketball team to the Girls’ Gold Bracket championship at the Allstate Sugar Bowl National Prep Classic at the start of January. She scored 19 points to go with five rebounds, four steals and two assists in the 53-48 championship game victory over St. Thomas More to earn MVP honors. The junior guard scored 31 points in the 63-56 semifinal victory over Zachary. Amite won the LHSAA Class 2A Championship last season despite Irving missing most of the season with an injury.
- Antonio Underwood, a sophomore from Chicago, Ill., helped the Xavier University competitive cheer team go 10-0 in season-opening competitions at Life University in Marietta, Ga., on Jan. 29. Xavier scored 93.73 points out of 100 to win the Life Duals, then won the Life Classic with 93.08. The average score was 93.41, which ranks Xavier No. 1 on the 2023 NAIA season scoring list (points per competition). Forty-nine schools have competed thus far. Xavier is 43-0 in all competitions since the start of the 2022 season and was the 2022 NAIA national team champion in this sport.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has been selecting an Amateur Athlete of the Month each month since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.
Recent Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month:
2023
January Kameron Johnson Basketball Archbishop Shaw High School
2022
December D’Wanye’ Winfield Football Lutcher High School
November Tyjae Spears Football Tulane University
October Michael Pratt Football Tulane University
September P.J. Martin Football De La Salle High School
August Chris Olivier Baseball New Orleans Boosters
July Gavriella Smith Tennis Lusher Academy/Penn
June Alia Armstrong Track & Field LSU
May Ismael Kone Track & Field University of New Orleans
April Tristyn Baugh Softball Archbishop Hannan High School
March Myles Burns Basketball Loyola University
February Kelsey Major Soccer Dominican High School
Jaylee Womack Basketball Ponchatoula High School
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 102 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 89-year history. The 90th Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2024. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
{Courtesy: Allstate Sugar Bowl}