Nine years ago, Anthony McCloud was already a budding basketball prodigy.

He spent hours in the Purks YMCA’s gym practicing his shooting, and many more in the other part of the facility building his strength. It paid off when he made 44 of 50 free throws to win the Mississippi state championship in the Elks Hoop Shoot contest, which sent him on to the regional contest.

Fast forward a decade, and the shooting touch he developed as a third-grader only got better with time. Now a senior at St. Aloysius, he’ll soon be a freshman playing at Tougaloo College. And before he gets there, he’s also the 2025 Vicksburg Post boys basketball Player of the Year for Warren County.

“It feels good, because that’s one of the goals I’ve been working on ever since I was in seventh grade,” McCloud said. “I thank my parents, my family, and all of my trainers that helped me do what I’m doing now.”

St. Aloysius has never been known as a boys basketball powerhouse, but over the past couple of seasons McCloud helped change that. He averaged 15 points and 5.7 rebounds in the 2023-24 season, and this year upped that to 18.4 points and 6.7 rebounds. He also averaged 1.8 steals and 2.2 assists, and had six double-doubles to show a solid all-around game.

St. Al won three games in the 2022-23 season. Over the past two years, they’ve gone 29-22 and reached the MAIS Class 5A South State tournament both times.

“We lost a lot of main players from the year before, so (coach Walter Hallberg) told me I’m going to have to do more than just shoot and rebound a little bit. I’m going to have to do all of it,” McCloud said. “That’s what I did. And then we started winning, so that’s a good feeling.”

McCloud is the first St. Aloysius player since 2004 to win The Post’s Player of the Year award. He also became only the second St. Al player since 2000 to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. He reached that milestone by scoring 29 points in a blowout win against Benton Academy in January.

He credited his breakout season to his coaches and private trainer, and finally taking their lessons to heart.

“My confidence got higher, especially from my trainer. They showed me all this stuff I should’ve been doing my 10th grade year and how it was going to correlate with basketball in 11th and 12th grade. That’s how I should’ve been playing for a while,” he said.

McCloud will play for a while longer, too. One highlight of his outstanding senior season was signing with Tougaloo, an NAIA program in Jackson that has won 20 games or more each of the past four seasons.

He’s already started to work his way into the program by going to games and visiting practices.

“I’ve been to three or four games. I’ve seen the atmosphere and it’s pretty good, so I’m ready to play in it,” he said.

Getting the chance to keep playing past the point where many others don’t is something McCloud isn’t taking for granted. After all of the hours he’s put in, from third grade to 12th and beyond, he’s still eager to spend more time in the gym.

“That means a lot, especially seeing all my friends signing and continuing to play.,” McCloud said. “I’m happy I’m going to be able to do the same.”

Vicksburg Post Boys Basketball Players of the Year
2025 – Anthony McCloud, St. Aloysius
2024 – Davian Williams, Vicksburg
2023 – Malik Franklin, Vicksburg
2022 – Chris Taylor, Porter’s Chapel
2021 – Sean Hardy, Vicksburg
2020 – Cameron Butler, Vicksburg
2019 – Devan Kiner, Vicksburg
2018 – Chavis Smith, Warren Central
2017 – Kirk Parker, Vicksburg
2016 – Shaun Walton, Warren Central
2015 – Mario Doyle, Warren Central
2014 – De’Angelo Richardson, Vicksburg
2013 – Ted Brisco, Porter’s Chapel
2012 – Kourey Davis, Warren Central
2011 – Mychal Ammons, Vicksburg
2010 – Mychal Ammons and Kelsey Howard, Vicksburg
2009 – Kelsey Howard, Vicksburg
2008 – Jonathan Phelps, Vicksburg
2007 – Jonathan Phelps, Vicksburg
2006 – Hayden Hales, Porter’s Chapel
2005 – Chico Hunter, Warren Central
2004 – Kyle Richards, St. Aloysius
2003 – Devin Jones, Vicksburg
2002 – Willie Powers, Vicksburg
2001 – Demetrick Allen, Vicksburg
2000 – Herman Griffin, Vicksburg
1999 – Jason Johnson, St. Aloysius
1998 – Coleman Lewis, Warren Central
1997 – Brandon Carr, Porters Chapel
1996 – Quentin Smith, Vicksburg
1995 – Quentin Smith, Vicksburg
1994 – Oscar Denton, Vicksburg
1993 – Mark Smith, Vicksburg