Athlete of the Week: Kyson Rawls, jr., St. Georges basketball

St. Georges’ Kyson Rawls poses for a portrait at St. Georges Technical High School on Thursday afternoon.

St. Georges’ Kyson Rawls poses for a portrait at St. Georges Technical High School on Thursday afternoon.

THE WEEK: Scored 31 points in a 75-61 victory over Toms River North (N.J.) at the East Coast Basketball Showcase last Monday in Pemberton Township, N.J. Added 25 points in a 72-59 home victory over Christiana on Friday.

THE COACH SAYS: “He’s smart, and he plays the game the right way,” St. Georges coach Rod Griffin said. “Kyson has always been a leader, and he has been on the varsity team since his freshman year. So we count on him for leadership and guiding our team through tough times.”

THE SCORING: Rawls averaged 14.5 points through the Hawks’ first 13 games. He has averaged 26.8 points over the last five games to increase his season average to 18.3. “I’m just doing what I have to do for my team,” he said. “With losing a couple of players here and there, I just had to pick up the scoring.”

Junior point guard Kyson Rawls has averaged 26.8 points over the last five games for St. Georges.

THE STRENGTH: “The best part of my game honestly right now would have to be getting to the rim,” Rawls said. “I can get to the rim with ease. I can get past anybody, and I can take the contact and still finish the layup.”

THE GUIDANCE: “Being a point guard myself, I’m very hard on the point guards,” Griffin said. “You have the ball 90 percent of the time in your hands. You have to make the right decision most of the time. Don’t have to be perfect, but I want the point guard to be excellent, and he’s excellent.”

THE RESPECT: Rawls knows he is going to receive a lot of coaching from Griffin. “He’s hard on me. He expects a lot from me,” the junior said. “I just rise to the occasion. Everything he says to me, he gets on me a lot during the game, but I know it’s for the best. He can see potential in me, and I’m just trying to reach my maximum potential.”

THE CLASSROOM: The New Castle resident’s career program at St. Georges is athletic health care, taught by Victor Kozar. “Right now we’re learning about rehabilitation of the hip, the things you can do to get an athlete back on the field or court,” Rawls said.

THE FUTURE: Rawls has received basketball recruiting interest from Wake Forest, James Madison, St. Peter’s, Hofstra and Brown, but his “dream school” is Maryland. He plans to major in sports medicine and become an athletic trainer or physical therapist.

Send Athlete of the Week nominations to bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ