Tristan Maxwell is North Carolina Mr. Basketball 2020 — Mecklenburg’s first since 2007
For the first time in more than a decade, high school basketball’s top individual award is returning to Mecklenburg County.
Congratulations to North Mecklenburg’s Tristan Maxwell, North Carolina Mr. Basketball 2020.
“He is one of the best players to ever play at North Mecklenburg,” Vikings coach Duane Lewis said. “He’s our all-time leading scorer, our all-time leading three-point shooter and we’ve had a lot of really good ones.”
A 6-foot-3 guard signed to Georgia Tech, Maxwell averaged 24 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists as a senior. For his career, he was a four-time all-conference pick and scored 2,253 career points. That ranks 20th in N.C. public school history.
“I got better this year,” said Maxwell, whose father, Vernon, was an NBA world champion with the Houston Rockets. “I used to take a lot of shots, and bad shots, and basically I would get so upset with myself. Now even if I miss a shot, I’m still good. I keep my head up. My mentality got way better. I feel like I’m onto the next play.”
Maxwell is the first Mr. Basketball from Mecklenburg County since Butler High’s Demontez Stitt in 2007. In all, only four other Mecklenburg County stars have won the honor since the Observer began awarding it during the 1984-85 school year.
Charlotte Latin’s Anthony Morrow won in 2004; West Charlotte’s Jason Parker in 1999; Providence’s Antawn Jamison in 1995; and Charlotte Christian’s Todd Fuller in 1992.
Lewis feels Maxwell is deserving to join that elite list.
“In ninth grade, all we wanted Tristan to do was shoot,” Lewis said. “This year, we wanted him to play some at point guard. He just grew so much. He understood that, ‘I can get 20 points more efficiently ... His basketball IQ was growing each year, but it was on another level this year. He was a great leader and he used to be one to get in his feelings.”
Only one senior playing high school basketball in North Carolina made the McDonald’s All-American team this year — 6-foot-10 Word of God Christian Academy forward Isaiah Todd, who is considered an elite national recruit who will likely be in the NBA in two years. But Todd only played two seasons of high school basketball in North Carolina; he started his career in Virginia.
[MORE: Why Isaiah Todd isn’t North Carolina Mr. Basketball despite being state’s best player]
Mr. Basketball is a career achievement for N.C. high school seniors.
Lewis always thought Maxwell could be special, remembering how he put him on the floor against high school varsity players during a summer camp, months before Maxwell’s freshman season would begin four years ago.
“He came to a couple workouts and I remember the first game he struggled,” Lewis said. “Playing out there at UNCC, we put him against varsity guys. It was nerves. But the second game, in the side gym, we played a really good public school. He scored 20. I looked at (one of my assistants) and said, ‘oh yeah, he’s got a chance.’ ”
Maxwell, 17, said a lot has changed since then.
“High school ball was just so much different than middle school ball,” he said. “It was crazy, too. I couldn’t believe I was doing so good. But I walk in the gym now thinking I’m going to do really well.”
North Carolina Mr. Basketball winners
2019-20: Tristan Maxwell, North Mecklenburg
2018-19: Wendell Moore, Cox Mill
2017-18: Coby White, Greenfield School
2016-17: Lavar Batts, Concord Robinson
2015-16: Edrice “Bam” Adebayo, High Point Christian
2014-15: Brandon Ingram, Kinston
2013-14: Theo Pinson, High Point Christian
2012-13: Isaiah Hicks, Oxford Webb
2011-12: Rodney Purvis, Raleigh Upper Room
2010-11: Terry Whisnant, Cherryville
2009-10: Reggie Bullock, Kinston
2008-09: Mason Plumlee, Arden Christ School
2007-08: Ty Walker, Wilmington N. Hanover
2006-07: Demontez Stitt, Butler
2005-06: Will Graves, Greensboro Dudley
2004-05: Kevin Swinton, Greensboro Dudley
2003-04: Anthony Morrow, Charlotte Latin
2002-03: Chris Paul, West Forsyth
2001-02: Shavlik Randolph, Raleigh Broughton
2000-01: A. Richardson, Raleigh Leesville Rd.
1999-00: Scooter Sherrill, West Rowan
1998-99: Jason Parker, West Charlotte
1997-98: Kris Lang, Gastonia Huss
1996-97: Jenis Grindstaff, McDowell
1995-96: Vincent Whitt, Greensboro Dudley
1994-95: Antawn Jamison, Providence
1993-94: Ishua Benjamin, Concord
1992-93: Jeff Capel, Hope Mills South View
1991-92: Todd Fuller, Charlotte Christian
1990-91: Donald Williams, Garner
1989-90: Rodney Rogers, Durham Hillside
1988-89: Bryant Feggins, Win.-Salem Glenn
1987-88: Kenny Williams, Eliz. City N’eastern
1986-87: Henrik Rodl, Chapel Hill
1985-86: Robert Brickey, Fayetteville Smith
1984-85: Chucky Brown, North Brunswick
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 6:01 AM with the headline "Tristan Maxwell is North Carolina Mr. Basketball 2020 — Mecklenburg’s first since 2007."
