Recently, we unveiled our plan to name area programs’ top five players of the 21st century, which sits at 25 seasons in both football and basketball.
Reminder, this is based on high school career performance ONLY. This is by no means a definitive list and, if anything, is encouraging debate on potential omissions to this list.
Through exhaustive research, reaching out to former coaches and players and our own personal opinion, here is the OTH Quarter Century Team for Snider Panthers boys basketball.
Note: The list is in alphabetical order
Reggie Hearn
As a leader on and off the court, Hearn enjoyed a stellar final season at Snider — he averaged 14.9 points and 7.8 rebounds, captained his team to a 25-2 record and a 4A state championship game appearance, and earned All-SAC and all-area honors, and the state final’s Trester Mental Attitude Award. The trop to state was Snider’s first ever. During his junior season, he averaged 8.1 points per game. Hearn went on the play at Northwestern and then the Detroit Pistons, as one of Fort Wayne’s few players to play a NBA game.
Karson Jenkins
Jenkins had one of the more prolific senior seasons in Snider history when he averaged 26.4 points, 5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.3 steals per game, ranking among the top scorers in Indiana’s 4A class. He ended up scoring 1,325 career points for the Panthers; he shot 39.8 percent from three point range as a senior. As a sophomore in 2020, Jenkins helped the Panthers to their first Sectional title since 2009, winning one again as a senior in 2022. Jenkins averaged 20.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest during his junior season.
Marques Johnson
In his senior year, he posted averages of 15.1 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists. He earned the prestigious Tiffany Gooden Award as the top player in the Summit Athletic Conference regardless of gender and led his team to its first sectional title in over two decades. As a junior, he was even more impactful — averaging 21 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4 assists — and earned All-State honors in both his junior and senior campaigns. His consistent impact earned him a top-50 national ranking in his class before playing Division I basketball at Tennessee, North Carolina State and Georgia State.
Ryan Sims
A 2006 grad, Sims was a four-year varsity player and two-year captain at Snider. Sims set school records for assists and steals, finished second all-time in career points, and as a senior averaged 21 points and five assists per game. He was the Summit Athletic Conference MVP, placed 4th in Indiana Mr. Basketball voting, and helped Snider go 20–9 with a sectional championship his senior year. He was also named IBCA Senior All-State. As a junior, Sims averaged 19 points and 8 assists per game. Sims signed with Bowling Green.
Malik Williams
Williams was a dominant force at Snider, finishing his senior year with a remarkable stat line — 23.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game — and leaving as the school’s all-time leader in both rebounds and blocks. He was instrumental in leading Snider to the Summit Athletic Conference title and a sectional final appearance in 2017. He earned top all-state and conference honors, was the MVP of the Nancy Rehm Border Wars and was a finalist for Indiana Mr. Basketball, before being nationally ranked as a top-25 recruit headed to Louisville. As a junior, he averaged 21.2 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game and as a sophomore, his numbers were 13.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 4.5 blocks per game. He went on to become one of Fort Wayne’s few players to play in a NBA game during his time with the Toronto Raptors.
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