Trib HSSN boys basketball player of the week for Feb. 23, 2025

By: Don Rebel
Sunday, February 23, 2025 | 6:18 PM

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Trib HSSN boys basketball player of the week: Bobby Fadden

School: Mohawk

Class: Junior

Height: 6-2

Position: Guard

What coach says: “Bobby is able to score in many different ways,” Mohawk coach Mike O’Lare said. “He made three 3s and was 9 of 10 from the foul line in the game against Waynesburg. He is not a one-dimensional player, which makes him hard to defend.”

“Bobby’s biggest contribution in the game against Southmoreland was on the defensive end of the floor. He had the task of defending the other team’s top player (Noah Felentzer), and Bobby was able to draw four charges in the game. What made those four charges unique was that they all came while on ball defending and not from the help position. He got such great position while defending the ball that he was able to get under the ball-handler to draw those charges.”

“As the lone returning starter from last year’s team, the guys naturally look to him as a leader. He has a competitive calmness to him this year that I think permeates throughout our team. He is maturing, so the emotional swings of the game do not get to him as much any more as he knows he has to keep our other guys in line.”

“I think the biggest improvement he has made this year has been that his heartbeat has slowed down. He plays with such great pace to him, and the game has slowed down for him. He is able to see things before they happen now on both ends of the floor now.”

“Here at Mohawk, our kids are extremely fortunate that our coaches work together to allow the male athletes to participate in as many sports as possible,” O’Lare said about Fadden playing five sports. “There is no pressure on our guys to focus on one sport, which is the way it should be. These kids get one shot at being a high school athlete and they deserve that opportunity. That being said, not many kids can pull it off and be as successful as Bobby has. He doesn’t do it to say he plays five sports, he does it because he loves it and loves to compete. We are fortunate to have kids like Bobby Fadden at Mohawk.”

#Earned: Bobby Fadden was the last man standing from a Mohawk team a year ago that won the Section 1-3A title for a second straight year, reached the WPIAL semifinals and the PIAA quarterfinals and finished with a 20-9 record. Fadden returned for his junior year in a leadership role after the program was hit hard by graduation. However, a new group of Warriors didn’t miss a beat, finishing second to Aliquippa in the section and earning the No. 3 seed in the Class 3A playoffs. In a home first-round game, Fadden, averaging 21.7 points this season, dropped 27 points as Mohawk defeated Waynesburg Central, 59-40. In the quarterfinals, Fadden again led the way with 22 points as the Warriors jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in ousting Section 4 winner Southmoreland, 55-38.

Background: Fadden is a jack-of-all-trades, and he seems to have mastered them all. He is a rare athlete, competing in five varsity sports. He grew up and has continued to play football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. In football this past season, his first as the starting quarterback, he threw for 1,682 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushed for 816 yards and six scores. He is on his way to possibly scoring over 2,000 points in his scholastic hoops career, and he has a career batting average of .343 and an on-base percentage of .421 following two seasons in baseball. Last fall, he added golf to his list and qualified and survived the first cut in the WPIAL individual championships. He also is a member of the track team in the spring, last year participating for the first time in the triple jump, long jump and high jump. Bobby’s father, Rob, was a 1995 graduate of Mohawk who also scored over 1,000 points in his career.

2025 Trib HSSN Boys Basketball Players of the Week

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: Mohawk