Tribune names SLO County Player of Year, all-stars in boys basketball
In a breakout year for Atascadero High basketball, the winning-most season in Coach Augie Johnston’s eight-year tenure, Shea Buckley stood out from the rest.
The senior guard, who played four years of varsity basketball for the Greyhounds and set the school record for career scoring in 2026, was an unselfish leader who could get buckets in bunches.
Buckley is The Tribune’s San Luis Obispo County Player of the Year. For a full list of SLO County all-stars, see below.
Leading Atascadero to a 21-11 record and a CIF-Central Section Division 2 runner-up finish, the 6-foot senior guard averaged 21.9 points, 51.7% on field goals, 46.2% on 3-pointers, 4.5 rebounds per game, 2.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
“I love how he plays, and he does it on both sides of the floor,” Johnston said. “He plays hard defense too, and he’s not lazy in any way. It has just been really fun to have a player like him in our program who can score 30 on any night and makes it easy on the coach by making shots.” Buckley, the only player in Johnston’s Atascadero tenure to make the team coming in as a freshman, was coachable, hard-working and a joy to watch, the coach said.
“In so many games he would have 20 points going into the fourth and end up with 33 or 34, and he would score over 10 points in the fourth quarter,” Johnston said. “It was fun basketball. ... There were times I’d take him out with a few minutes left in the game, give him a big hug and say ‘thank you.’”
Memorable season for Atascadero basketball
As the Greyhounds saw their victory total hit the double digits and then eclipse 20 wins, they then found themselves in Selland Arena in Fresno playing in the spotlight for the Division 2 CIF-Central section final, losing 65-47 to Clovis but representing the Central Coast as the last team standing from SLO County.
Buckley was a focal point for the team’s success.
They went on to open the CIF State Division 3 playoffs with a 69-62 road win against Warren, of Downey, on March 3, before falling 67-61 to Colony, of Ontario.
“We made goals throughout the season, and we fought really hard,” Johnston said. “It was a good effort from the guys. And it was a fun way to go out. We got to the championship game and Selland Arena. We’ll remember that forever.”
Of the arena experience, Buckley said: “It was my first time playing in an arena like that, and it was like a red carpet experience. I’d seen it in videos a bit and other teams going. The locker room was sick. It lived up the hype, for sure.”
Buckley, who likes to let the game come to him, scored 34 points in a CIF semifinal contest versus Hoover to get to the final, including six made 3-pointers.
But as good of a scorer as he was, Buckley was able to facilitate and make the right reads against defenses, especially against box-and-one and zones designed to shut him down. Johnston would sometimes have him be the screener to spark the offense, and he was a willing participant. “‘I just try to read the defenses,” Buckley said. “If they were going to collapse on me, I find my shooters. And then if they’re going to give me space and give me room to work, then I go to work.”
Hard work pays off
One of the best shooters ever to don a Greyhounds jersey, Buckley was known to be dedicated, waking at 5 a.m. and leaving at 11 p.m. to get his work in.
“Basketball was the funnest part of the day,” Buckley said. “As soon as the gym opened, I wanted to be there.”
His offensive success came from high repetition and getting a good feel for his shot, not wanting to miss a moment of practice.
“His strength in shooting is his quick release,” Johnston said. “He’s extremely quick, where defenders would close out on him, and think they had a close-out with the hand in his face even. But he would just get it off so quick, and it would go in.”
Buckley said from his freshman year to senior, he improved his ball handling, reads, driving and finishing off of two feet around the basket and, of course, his shot.
“I fully enjoyed it, every second,” Buckely said. “All the hard work, all the fun times, man, it was great. I loved high school basketball.”
A talented group
As the Greyhounds put together a deep playoff run, Buckley was quick to deflect the attention and point to his longtime teammates — dating back to middle school and Pass First youth club basketball — and the team’s cohesion.
Atascadero will send off a talented group of seniors in Buckley, Isaiah Rodriguez, Steven Ernst, Damon Mitchell, Damian Marano and Dylan Martini.
“I’ve been playing with this group since about the fifth grade,” Buckley said. “I’m going to miss battling with my brothers. I’m going to miss all of that, but I try to think of it more as good memory than missing it as much, everything about it, even film sessions and practices.”
Johnston said among the many memories, the game in which Buckley’s eclipsed Robbie Berwick’s all-time school scoring record was particularly special.
Johnston sees Buckley, who’s undecided about college, as a promising collegiate player who will find his way to a successful career as he continues to develop and strengthen.
“I’m just talking to some junior colleges right now about what I want to do, but I also got into a lot of other colleges as well, so it’s kind of looking at everything,” Buckley said.
Johnston, a former pro basketball player in Europe, added: “Shea is going to develop physically a lot in that time. He’s not going to pack on a lot of pounds at 17 and 18, but his best years will be when he’s 20 and 21, which is scary when he’s a grown man, even more athletic, even a better shooter, even more skilled. I don’t see how anybody can really stop him at that point.”
First team
David “Deuce” Kellogg, Mission Prep
Vaughn Otto, San Luis Obispo
Kevin Sass, Templeton
Damon Mitchell, Atascadero
Hunter Drake, Mission Prep
Second team
Isaiah Rodriguez, Atascadero
Steven Ernst, Atascadero
Harrison Bays, Templeton
Beau Crew, San Luis Obispo
Jagger Young, Arroyo Grande
Honorable mention
Jeremy Borm, Paso Robles
Kason Nico, Mission Prep
Stone Hawk, Morro Bay
Andrew Merlo, Arroyo Grande
Hayden Brandow, SLO
Will Hidinger, Nipomo
Colton Mott, Mission Prep
Noah Werner, Arroyo Grande
Drew Curtis, Coastal Christian
Nate Tirre, Nipomo
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