Calvary Christian’s Hendricks is Broward’s Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year for 4A-2A

Calvary Christian Academy boasts a roster brimming with Division I talent, blue-chip prospects and even one five-star recruit, and still Taylor Hendricks managed to differentiate himself throughout his two years in Fort Lauderdale.

“He’s just unselfish,” Eagles coach Cilk McSweeney said. “He’s been our leading scorer the last two years, our leading rebounder the last two years, our leading field-goal percentage leader the last two years, our leading shot blocker the last two years, second in assists the last two years and then also with steals — second in steals — but one of the biggest things I said is he never once asked me that he needed more shots and he deserved it.”

For the second straight year, Calvary Christian won a state championship and Hendricks was the leader on both ends of the floor. It’s why he’s the Miami Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year for Classes 4A-2A.

The star senior is a four-star power forward in the 247Sports.com composite rankings for the Class of 2022, the No. 70 overall prospect in the nation and headed to play for the UCF Knights after signing his national letter of intent last year. He only played two years for the Eagles and is still the program’s all-time leader in blocked shots, McSweeney said, and set single-season school records for field goals and field-goal percentage this year.

Hendricks is averaging 15.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game for Calvary Christian, which is ranked No. 3 in the nation by MaxPreps, and those numbers could have been even better if he wasn’t playing next to five-star point guard Marvel Allen, four-star shooting guard Carl Cherenfant, four-star power forward Gregg Glenn, three-star power forward Brenen Lorient and three-star shooting guard Tyler Hendricks, his twin brother.

“When you’re on a stacked team, I just want to do whatever helps my team win,” Taylor Hendricks said. “I feel like we fit together perfectly because each and every one of us can go out, and score 20 a night and just having that many weapons on a team — it makes your job a lot easier.”

With Hendricks leading the way, the Eagles have a chance to win a national championship this weekend as one of eight teams headed to Tampa this for the inaugural State Champions Invitational. Calvary Christian is the top seed and will open the tournament against No. 19 Sidwell Friends from Washington, D.C., at Berkeley Preparatory School.

A year ago, this was the goal for Hendricks and his Eagles. They spent most of the year ranked in the top 25, but still lost seven games and needed overtime to win the state title in 2021. This year, Calvary Christian has only lost twice, and has beaten two other top-10 teams and two more top-40 teams. In the Class 4A championship, the Eagles rolled to a 74-58 win against Jacksonville Andrew Jackson with Hendricks scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds, with four blocks and three steals.

In the Eagles’ two top-10 wins, Hendricks had 18 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and two steals against New Jersey’s Camden, and 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks against Arkansas’ North Little Rock.

“Calvary was always a good team, but when me and a couple other players came along it just exploded to another level,” said Hendricks, who also won a state title as a freshman at University. “We’re actually accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish last season.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 12:15 PM.