Danville Register & Bee and Associated Press
Published: May 8, 2008

RICHMOND — George Washington senior Nick Barbour was voted an Associated Press Group AAA first-team all-state selection Wednesday and junior Terrance Townes received second-team honors.

“They’re very deserving,” GW coach Bobby Martin said. “It’s just another honor they received for working hard.”

The 6-foot-2 Barbour averaged 23.2 points and 5.1 rebounds as George Washington went 27-1, losing only to Petersburg in the state quarterfinals. He scored 29 points in the loss.

Townes averaged 19.1 points and 11.3 rebounds for the Eagles.

Kecoughtan’s Ricardo Ratliffe, a 6-6 senior, averaged 28 points in leading his squad to the Eastern Region tournament for the first time in more than a decade — and his dominance made him an easy choice of sports writers as the Group AAA boys player of the year for 2008.

The All-Group AAA team also includes Anthony Winbush from state champion T.C. Williams, Tarek Ammoury of McLean and Corey Law of Deep Creek.

T.C. Williams’ Ivan Thomas, who guided his team to a 29-3 record and the first state title for a Northern Region team since 1981, was selected as the coach of the year.

Winbush, 6-7, averaged 16.5 points, six rebounds and six assists. He scored 14 in the championship game against Bethel, when the Titans took control early and won 70-57.

Ammoury, 6-3, averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds for a team that was just 12-10 in the regular season, then won twoce in the postseason before losing.

Law, 6-5, averaged 20.7 points and 14.3 rebounds.

In addition to Townes, the second team includes seniors Andre Jones of Nansemond River, Kendrix Brown of Norview, Harry Lee Daniel of Highland Springs and sophomore Travis McKie of John Marshall.