{"id":652552,"date":"2026-03-11T11:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/652552\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T11:20:20","slug":"john-curtis-sophomore-helping-lead-boys-basketball-team-prep-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/652552\/","title":{"rendered":"John Curtis sophomore helping lead boys basketball team | Prep Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Curtis<\/a> is the No. 1-seeded Division I select boys basketball team, and sophomore Jonnie Walker<\/a> has been a key factor in the Patriots\u2019 success.<\/p>\n

Walker began playing varsity basketball in the eighth grade but suffered an MCL injury last year that cut his freshman season short. He returned fully healthy for this season and has taken on a lead role for a Curtis team that\u2019s lost just twice in 29 games.<\/p>\n

A first-team all-district selection in his first year starting, the 6-foot-4 Walker has thrived as a scorer and rebounder during his breakout sophomore campaign, averaging 11.7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Walker) is the heart and soul of this team when you\u2019re looking behind the scenes,\u201d Curtis coach Biko Paris said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the first ones there every day, one of the last ones to leave the gym. He had a lot to prove this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we sat down before the season, I knew he was serious about having a breakout year. I\u2019m not surprised at how well he\u2019s doing because I\u2019ve seen the work that he\u2019s put in. He\u2019s going to give you 110% regardless of what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker impacts the game in more ways than one. He shined in the fourth quarter during last Friday\u2019s quarterfinal comeback win over Huntington, finishing with 16 points along with a team-high nine rebounds and three blocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been going out there and playing with confidence,\u201d Walker said. \u201cEven if I\u2019m not hitting shots, I\u2019m trying to get rebounds just to get myself going. We knew we had to come out and bring more energy (in the quarterfinals) and that the shots were going to fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker comes from an athletic family. Both of his parents played sports growing up, along with his two older brothers, who played football at Rummel.<\/p>\n

Jonnie is the youngest of four siblings and the first to attend Curtis. Division I schools have taken notice of his basketball skills, as he\u2019s received offers from UL and George Mason.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole family is always there for me,\u201d Jonnie Walker said. \u201cThey always support me in everything I do. My mom was a swimmer, and my dad played basketball. Hopefully more (offers) will come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s knee injury caused Walker to miss three months. Curtis senior Midnight Martin also returned from injury this year and is a strong defender alongside the top scorers in Walker and senior Autrail Manning.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Walker) attacked the rehab and is even bigger, faster and stronger now than he was before the injury,\u201d Paris said. \u201cI think when kids go through things like that, they don\u2019t take games for granted because they know at any given time it can get taken away from them.”<\/p>\n

Curtis (27-2) has a deep rotation, playing up to 10 players in a game. A return to the state semifinals awaits the Patriots on Wednesday against No. 12-seeded Catholic-Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n

Curtis lost to St. Thomas More in the semifinals last year by just two points. The Patriots will look to avenge last season\u2019s semifinal defeat at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come up short like that, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but it brings forth harder work and believing in the process,\u201d Paris said. \u201cI think these guys have worked their tails off (for a state championship), and they deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Curtis-Catholic winner will face No. 2-seeded Alexandria or No. 11-seeded Edna Karr in the state title game, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Paris, a former NCAA basketball standout at Boston College, is in his third season coaching at Curtis. The Patriots last won a boys basketball state title in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Curtis is the No. 1-seeded Division I select boys basketball team, and sophomore Jonnie Walker has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,5498],"class_list":{"0":"post-652552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-hardwall"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116210278479733950","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}