All-County boys basketball: Acen Jimenez is the player of the year

ALL-COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM 2025-26

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Acen Jimenez, La Habra, Senior 

La Habra’s basketball team finished 21-8 overall this season and finished second in the Crestview League with a 6-2 league record.

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Take Acen Jimenez off the team’s roster and those numbers might be 8-21 and 2-6.

The Highlanders’ 6-2 senior point guard averaged 25 points, five rebounds and four assists a game while being frequently double- and triple-teamed.

Jimenez was the Crestview League co-MVP and he is The Register’s player of the year for the 2025-26 season.

Aaron Riekenberg, who recently stepped down as La Habra’s coach, said Jimenez made big contributions as a player and as a leader.

“As a coach,” Riekenberg said, “you look for players who make other players work harder. Acen even elevates coaches to work harder.”

Jimenez has a 4.3 grade-point average and is headed to Dartmouth, where he plans to study economics and play basketball.

Jimenez played a major role in La Habra handing Crean Lutheran its only loss in the Crestview League. He scored 30 points with five assists. In La Habra’s zone defense, Jimenez manned the under-the-basket position where he had to contend with the Saints’ 6-11 center Chadrack Mpoyi.

Riekenberg marvels at what Jimenez did in that victory.

“Acen had to play in the middle of our zone against their size,” Riekenberg said. “And then he had to lead our offense at the other end of the court.”

Jimenez considers that win a personal highlight.

“In the first quarter I had 17 points,” Jimenez said. “Then Crean went with a double- and triple-team on me, so I had to give up the ball a lot. And it was a battle underneath with Chadrack, who’s an elite player. I wasn’t going to win that battle, so all I could do was try to get him out of there as much as I could.”

Among his other big games were 36 points in a league win over Canyon, 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a nonleague win over St. Bernard, and 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a nonleague win over Sonora.

Jimenez said his favorite La Habra highlight is winning the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA championship his sophomore year. Jimenez scored 21 points in the Highlanders’ 76-45 win over St. Bonaventure.

“I’d played with four or five guys on that team since third grade,” Jimenez said. “Winning a championship with them was an amazing feeling.”

Riekenberg is grateful that he could coach Jimenez for four years.

“In this day when we see parents and players jump from school to school,” Riekenberg said, “it was refreshing to see a a great player stay at his public school for all four years. A lot of guys would go to that private school for what might be a bigger stage, but Acen is built differently. He wanted to keep us at or near that top spot.”

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COACH OF THE YEAR

Jason Simco, Corona del Mar 

Jason Simco led Corona del Mar to a 27-4 overall record, the Sunset League title and a spot in the Open Division of the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The 27 wins is a school record for the boys basketball program. The Sea Kings’ average margin of victory in league was 18 points.

Corona del Mar was one of five public-school teams selected for the 12-team Open Division, where they went 0-3 in pool play.

“Our team had 18 guys who really liked each other,” Simco said. “No egos, no attitudes. They were fun to watch and fun to coach.”

ALL-COUNTY FIRST TEAM

Drew Anderson, Santa Margarita, Sr.: Anderson, who recently committed to Stanford, was a Trinity League player of the year and averaged 20 points and nine rebounds a game.

David Abisogun Fairmont Prep, Sr.: He was the San Joaquin League player of the year and averaged 15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots a game.

Jaden Bailes, JSerra, Sr.: Bailes, who signed with Seattle University, scored 20 points a game and averaged five rebounds a game. He also set school single-season records with 730 points and 116 3-point baskets in 36 games and was named All-Trinity League first team

Kaiden Bailey, Santa Margarita, Sr.: Bailey was All-Trinity League first team, averaged 19 points, four rebounds and four assists a game.

Luke Barnett, Mater Dei, Sr.: He averaged 19 points a game and made 128 3-point baskets this season, is Mater Dei’s all-time record holder for 3-point shots made, was All-Trinity League first team and signed with Kansas.

Acen Jimenez, La Habra, Sr.: The Orange County Player of the Year.

Derick Johnson, Edison, Sr.: Johnson was among CIF Southern Section scoring leaders with 34 points a game and averaged 12 rebounds a game. He was named to the All-Sunset League first team and signed with Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Chadrack Mpoyi, Crean Lutheran, Sr.: Mpoyi, a dominating 6-11 inside player who signed with Minnesota, was Crestview League co-MVP, averaged 17 points and eight rebounds while shooting 72 percent from the field.

Maxwell Scott, Corona del Mar, Jr.: Scott was the Sunset League MVP, averaged 22 points and seven rebounds a game, scored 24 points a game in the CIF-SS playoffs and is the school’s career scoring leader with 1,785 points.

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ALL-COUNTY SECOND TEAM

Earl Bryson, JSerra, Jr., G

Hunter Caplan, Crean Lutheran, Jr., G

Ryan Doane, JSerra, So., F

Nick Giarrusso, Crean Lutheram, Sr., G

Ryan Gov, Cypress, Sr., G

Josh King, Orange Lutheran, Sr., G

Brayden Kyman, Santa Margarita, Sr., F

Luke Mirhashemi, Corona del Mar, Sr., G

Jayden Mysin, Aliso Niguel, Sr.

Richie Ramirez, Mater Dei, Jr., G

ALL-COUNTY THIRD TEAM

Noah Barker, El Dorado, Sr., G

Jackson Burnham, Laguna Hills, Sr.

Godschoice Eboigbodin, JSerra, Jr.

Rocco Jensen, San Juan Hills, Sr., G

Zain Majeed, Mater Dei, Jr., F

Oliver Nakra, Corona del Mar, Sr., G

Kenneth Nguyen, Fountain Valley, Sr., G

Bryan Blake, San Clemente, Jr., G

Jordan Ceballos, Fairmont Prep, So., G

Rodney Westmoreland, Santa Margarita, Sr., G

FOURTH TEAM

Matthew Ahern, Capistrano Valley Christian, Sr., G

Rami Awad, Canyon, Sr., G

Max Draper, Tesoro, Sr., G

Ryan Hull, Trabuco Hills, Sr., G

Gavin Kroll, Cypress, Sr., F

Tyler Lopez, Los Alamitos, Sr., F

Michael Noel, Pacifica Christian, Sr. G

Max Paulsen, Portola, Sr., F

Jaiden Sabino, Woodbridge, Sr., G

Jake Schutt, Servite, Sr., F