Newton, Louin win Markward awards

Ja'Quan Newton and Alex Louin took home honors as the area's top boys' and girls' basketball players Wednesday night at the Markward Awards dinner at Canstatter's in Northeast Philadelphia.

Newton, a Neumann-Goretti guard and Miami signee, also was named Catholic League boys' player of the year. Newton averaged 21.6 points en route to winning his third state championship in Class AAA. He also broke Jeff Jones' Catholic League scoring record and finished his career with 1,972 points.

"This is just a great opportunity just to be here and get this award," Newton said. "Basketball-wise, this was the best season for me. . . . I had a great season."

Louin averaged 17.4 points for Mount St. Joseph, which finished third in District 1 Class AAAA. Louin, a guard, is a Villanova signee and also received an award as the Catholic Academies' top player.

In addition to Newton and Louin, Chris Bing (Central, Public League boys), Sean O'Brien (Penn Charter, Inter-Ac boys), Jon Boback (Calvary Christian, Bicentennial boys), Mia Farmer (Cardinal O'Hara, Catholic League girls), Margaret Anne Hubbell (Germantown Academy, Inter-Ac girls), and Aaliyah Worley (Engineering & Science, Public League girls) won player-of-the-year awards for their respective leagues.

Kevin Grow won the Andy Dougherty award as the area's top manager. Grow, an 18-year-old Bensalem student with Down syndrome, received attention when he scored 14 points in a two-minute stretch on Bensalem's senior night.

President of Athletes Helping Athletes Rick Leonetti won the George Paull award, recognizing his contribution to high school athletics.