One-of-a-kind big man named Idaho’s top boys basketball player. ‘He changes the game.’

Meridian High senior Brody Rowbury added another award to his mantle Friday when he was named the 2020-21 Gatorade Idaho Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-11, 290-pound senior led the long-struggling Warriors (20-1) to a history-making season last winter that included the program’s first state title since 1992. He racked up 17.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game despite sitting out the fourth quarter of many blowouts. And he shot 60.4% from the field.

“Brody’s probably one of the most unique players that has come through Idaho based on his size and skill set,” Mountain View coach Jon Nettleton said in a news release. “Idaho doesn’t produce many 6-10, 6-11 players to begin with, and definitely not ones who can shoot from the perimeter with a soft touch as well as from the free-throw line.

“He’s a force to be reckoned with. Not only can he dominate the glass, but he changes the game simply by how teams try to defend him.”

Rowbury is the first player from Meridian to win the all-class boys player of the year award since Jacob Bower in 2002-03. He was also elected the 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year by the state’s coaches in March.

Rowbury had a Division I offer from the Virginia Military Institute but will attend Sunrise Christian Academy, a national prep school power in Kansas, next year. Sunrise Christian played in the GEICO high school national championship game in April.

Recent winners of Idaho’s all-class player of the year include Borah’s Austin Bolt (2019-20), Ririe’s Michael Ure (2018-19), Post Falls’ Jake Pfennings (2017-18) and Rocky Mountain’s Kolby Lee (2016-17).

Mountain View junior Naya Ojukwu was named the state’s all-class girls basketball player of the year last week.