Marquette’s Ford Richardson, left, drives to the basket while defended by Traverse City Central's Hudson McLean during their MHSAA Division 1 district tournament semifinal game played at the Barb Crill Gymnasium in Marquette on Feb. 25. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

DETROIT — Senior Ford Richardson is standing among some pretty elite company when it comes to high school basketball all-state honors.

As a player for Marquette, the only MHSAA Division 1 school in the Upper Peninsula, he and the Sentinels go up against several hundred of the largest schools in the state when it comes to these honors.

And it isn’t even in his sport of specialization, football.

Heading to play on the gridiron this fall at Minnesota-Duluth, Richardson showed his prowess as an excellent two-sport — or three, considering track season is coming — athlete by making the Division 1 basketball Honorable Mention list when the Michigan Sports Writers organization announced its awards this week.

A look at the 31 players honored shows only one other player not coming from a school in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula, most coming from in or around larger cities like Detroit, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Pontiac, Flint, Kalamazoo and Muskegon.

Richardson and the Sentinels were able to get some attention as Marquette played nine downstate schools this season, including four in a row in the D-1 tourney, when MSHS defeated Traverse City Central and West, along with Mount Pleasant, before ending its journey against Rockford in the regional championship contest.

By the way, after Rockford scored a 58-39 win over Marquette on March 5, the Rams went on to win three more in a row to capture the state championship with a 54-50 win over East Lansing at Michigan State University on March 14.

Rockford not only had the All-State Coach of the Year with Kyle Clough, but also a First Team honoree in Jake Bascom and Honorable Mention with Eli Wolfe.

Richardson, a 6-foot guard, finished the season averaging 15 points, five rebounds and five assists per game, attaining First Team status in the Great Northern Conference in his second year as a starter and third year on the Sentinels varsity.

“He is our best player,” MSHS head coach Rich Ledy said in comments supporting Richardson’s recent All-U.P. nomination, when he was elected to that group’s First Team. “(He is) a hard worker, great leader and catalyst for our offense.”

Marquette finished at 18-8, including a 6-2 mark in the GNC for second place. They handed Westwood its only loss of the regular season, a 59-35 victory on Jan. 27 in west Ishpeming, also racking up victories over 19-2 Dollar Bay, 19-3 Harbor Beach, 17-4 Forest Park and 16-6 Mount Pleasant in the regional semifinals.

East Lansing’s K.J. Torbert was named the Division 1 Player of the Year, while the rest of the First Team consists of Rockford’s Bascom, Cam Ryans of Grand Rapids Northview, James Martin of Muskegon, Isaiah Theodile and Davier White of Kalamazoo Central, Jaylohn Allen of Wayne Memorial, Jordan McDaniel and Greg Grays Jr. of Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, RJ Chapman of East Kentwood, and Jordan Harrison of Ann Arbor Pioneer.

The Second Team includes Stevie Hall of Detroit Cass Tech, a team Marquette lost to 64-44 in the Motor City on Jan. 17.

The rest of the Second Team consists of Julius Wilson of Macomb L’Anse Creuse North, Keandre Burtin of Warren Fitzgerald, Alex Jamison of Port Huron Northern, Jaylin Cooper of Saginaw Heritage, Mareon of Knott of Detroit Martin Luther King, Will Plummer of Grand Haven, Cortez Porter of Davison, Da’Ron Mason of Bloomfield Hills, Jakobe Liford of Auburn Hills Avondale, Kaiden Morning of Ann Arbor Huron, Kingston Thomas of East Lansing and Quinton Swanson of Portage Northern.

The Second Team coach is Rich Marion of Ann Arbor Pioneer.

Joining Richardson and Rockford’s Wolfe on the Honorable Mention list are Nicholas Farr of Warren Cousino, Carter George of Roseville, Kyle Brown of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Owen Ribel of Traverse City West and Jovaan Daniels of Hudsonville.

Story contents based on an Associated Press list of honorees. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.