By: Don Rebel


Monday, March 3, 2025 | 7:44 PM

Trib HSSN boys basketball player of the week – Courtney Wallace Jr.

School: Neighborhood Academy

Class: Senior

Height: 6-foot-3

Position: Guard

#Earned: Courtney Wallace Jr. was the driving force behind a 21-1 regular season in which Neighborhood Academy cruised to the Section 2-A title. He averaged over 25 points per game in the regular season and scored a combined 36 points in quarterfinal and semifinal victories over Beaver County Christian and Aquinas Academy in the WPIAL Class A playoffs. A runner-up to Imani Christian a year ago, Wallace and the Bulldogs returned to Pitt’s Petersen Events Center to face Serra Catholic in a championship game battle between the top two seeds. After a slow start, the senior guard registered a double-double with a game-high 21 points and 18 rebounds. He also had five assists, two steals and two blocks as Neighborhood Academy rolled to a 69-46 win over Serra Catholic, earning the 24-year old school located in Stanton Heights in East Pittsburgh its first WPIAL championship in any sport.

Background: Wallace will continue his basketball career next season in the Ivy League at Yale. He currently has a 3.9 grade-point average while taking college-level courses at Neighborhood Academy. His father Courtney Wallace was a standout basketball player at Perry in the mid-to-late 1990s and later played at Duquesne University. With his 57 points in the district postseason, Wallace Jr. heads into the PIAA postseason needing only 36 points to hit the 500-point mark this season. Both Neighborhood Academy coach Jordan Marks and senior teammate Shamar Simpson proclaimed Wallace to be not only the best player in the WPIAL this season, but the best player in the state. He and three of his four fellow Bulldogs seniors have attended Neighborhood Academy since the start of middle school in sixth grade. In the WPIAL finals, he had a 15-second sequence in which he blocked a two-on-one shot off the backboard, accepted a lob pass and laid it in for a layup, stole an outlet pass and slammed home two more points in a money play on both sides of the floor. Speaking of money, Wallace wants to study finances at Yale.

What coach says: “Huge,” Neighborhood Academy coach Jordan Marks said of Wallace’s performance in the district finals against Serra Catholic. “He’s averaged a triple-double and he’s done it against 1A to 6A. He always plays big on big stages. He takes more pride in his defense and passing than his scoring, and that’s contagious.

“He averaged 19 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists a game in the playoffs, Mark said. “He always wants the challenge of guarding the team’s best player, as well.”

“He’s become more unselfish and is taking what defenses give him,” Mark said of Wallace’s improvement on the floor this season. “He accepts the box-and-one and 1-3 chasers and shows his passing ability. When he’s 1 on 1, he knows he can get to the rim and make plays for others or attack the rim.”

“It was unbelievable,” Mark said of Wallace and fellow seniors Shamar Simpson, Syncer Nicholson and Junior Onwubiko’s contributions to the program over the years. “To work with them and see them grow on and off the floor, that has been priceless. To see how close they have gotten and how they have stayed together, again, priceless. They all sacrificed for the program and all play for the Neighborhood Academy more than themselves. They knew they’d sacrifice to win and average 19 assists a game. The young men they’ve evolved into has made me most proud. They are all great players and even better individuals. They built this program into one of the best in the entire WPIAL.”

2025 Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Players of the Week

Week 8 – Bobby Fadden, Mohawk

Week 7 – Isaiah Jeter, Central Valley

Week 6 – Calvin Winfrey III, Uniontown

Week 5 – Connor Crossey, Franklin Regional

Week 4 – Colton Straight, Montour

Week 3 – Zach Pollaro, North Hills

Week 2 – Cameron Epps, South Allegheny

Week 1 – Brady Mayo, Beaver

Tags: Neighborhood Academy