Daily Journal Athlete of the Week: Summit Shasta’s AJ Solanoy

“We needed every single one of them,” Summit Shasta head coach Jorge Chevez said.

Solanoy has been named Daily Journal Athlete of the Week for becoming the first player in the history of the Shasta boys’ team to score 1,000 points in his career.

For a Black Bears team that tends to rack up the blowouts — outscoring opponents by an average of 25 points a game this season — those on hand last Thursday got to see exactly how well Solanoy responds to pressure games. Maybe it’s the longtime AAU career, or just in his DNA, Solanoy is one of those competitors whose game mirrors the opponent. The better the competition, the better Solanoy tends to play.

Basis is a new team to the small-school Private School Athletic League this season, and has quickly emerged as five-time reigning league champion Summit Shasta’s best foil. While the Black Bears have swept the two-game season series, both games have been close, including the first meeting, a 77-67 win. The next closest decision Shasta has won in PSAL play was a 76-51 win over University Prep-San Jose.

“I honestly like it more than the blowouts,” Solanoy said. “I like it being more competitive. ... I like games like that when I’ve got to keep my head on a swivel all the time.”

Solanoy shoots well in the blowouts too. In fact, his career scoring total would be much higher if not for his sitting late in games, like last Tuesday’s 92-21 win at Nueva School. The senior still totaled 21 points, five rebounds and four assists despite sitting the entire fourth quarter. He went on to score 15 points in Saturday’s rematch with Nueva, a 75-28 victory — the Black Bears’ 50th straight win in PSAL games dating back to 2019-20 — during which he again sat the fourth.

Solanoy’s 1000th career point came in the second quarter of the Black Bears’ nail-biter against Basis, and he got his money’s worth by going coast-to-coast.

“Got a rebound and I just went 94 feet, and just did a nice little up-and-under layup,” Solanoy said.

With family and friends making the trip to San Jose, the historic bucket got a rousing round of applause. Solanoy was later presented with a game ball autographed by his teammates to commemorate the achievement.

As the senior’s year winds down, though, Solanoy is going to have the chance to prove exactly how good a pressure player he is. While Summit Shasta has one Central Coast Section Division V championship to its credit, that title run came the year before Solanoy arrived on campus.

Solanoy led the Black Bears to the CCS Division V finals last season, but they were denied by Oakwood-Morgan Hill in a grueling but thrilling 60-59 loss. Shasta went on to advance to the second round of the CIF Northern California Division V regional tournament, with Solanoy putting on a show to score 26 points in a 73-65 loss at International-San Francisco.

Of this year’s goals, Solanoy said: “Hopefully win CCS and make it to Nor Cal like last year — but this year win CCS.”

Summit Shasta returned just two starters from that team — Solanoy and 6-foot power forward Allen Rayo. The three new starters — 5-10 senior Kevin Co; 5-9 junior guard Casey Redosendo; and 5-10 senior Erick Chevez, all of whom were reserves during last year’s postseason push — are all shorter than the players they replaced. In fact, the Black Bears have just three players on roster at 6-feet or above.

A 5-9 point guard, Solanoy has faced criticism because of his height. While he wants to play basketball in college, he has yet to find any takers.

Solanoy has a track record of overcoming obstacles, though. Prior to his freshman season, he used the disappointment of walking into the Summit Shasta gym after school on cut day and not finding his name on the finalized varsity roster, having to settle for a spot on the junior-varsity squad.

“It was pretty sad but I didn’t take it as sad,” Solanoy said. “I took it as motivation.”

Before his freshman season was through, Solanoy made the leap to the varsity squad. Not only did he get called up, he shined, as it was clear to his coach Solanoy was on the varsity team to stay.

“You knew he belonged,” Chevez said. “I knew I had my starting point guard for the next three years.”

And over those next three years, Solanoy became Summit Shasta’s most prolific scorer because of one underlying virtue.

“His competitiveness,” Chevez said. “He just gets locked in for the big games. ... He just takes it to another level. And I’m hoping that carries over and we have another deep run this year.”