Tinkle Named Gatorade Player of the Year
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State men’s basketball signee Tres Tinkle was named the Gatorade Montana Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight season.
Tinkle led Hellgate High School to third place in the Montana Class AA state tournament, averaging 24.8 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He shot 58.5 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from beyond the arc and 76.1 percent from the free throw line, while also contributing 2.1 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.
The 6-foot-7 guard/forward led Hellgate to the 2013 Class AA state championship as a sophomore and the 2014 Class AA state title game as a junior, while earning All-Tournament honors all three years. He finished his outstanding high school career with a school-record 1,544 points.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade high school sports leadership team in partnership with USA TODAY High School Sports, which work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Oregon State’s 2015 class includes Derrick Bruce, a 6-foot-3, 165-pound guard from Orlando, Fla.; Drew Eubanks, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward from Troutdale, Ore.; Gligorije Rakocevic, a 6-foot-10, 245-pound center from Bijelo Polj, Montenegro; Stephen Thompson Jr., a 6-foot-3, 165-pound guard from Torrance, Calif., and Tres Tinkle, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward from Missoula, Mont. The class is ranked 15th in the nation by 247Sports.com and 18th in the nation by Rivals.com, the highest-ever recruiting class rankings in school history.
