King’s Fork High School junior guard/forward Keith Stagg has been impressive early in his high school basketball career, and he now has a prestigious all-state honor to show for it.

Joining seven other elite players, six of whom are seniors, he was recently named to the 2015 Virginia High School League Group 4A all-state first team.

“It’s an honor, and a lot of hard work that I’ve put in has paid off,” Stagg said.

Bulldogs coach Josh Worrell said, “It’s a great honor for him, especially being a junior. It’s the first (person) I’ve had getting an all-state award being a junior.”

Worrell later added, “Hopefully he can understand the significance of that.”

When asked for his reaction to this new achievement for the school’s history books, Stagg replied, “I didn’t even know that. Wow.”

During the 2014-15 regular season, Stagg averaged 18.5 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals per game.

Worrell said the coaches of the teams in the state tournament make their decisions on all-state selections based on a player’s performance from the entire season but with emphasis on the state tournament.

Stagg played particularly well in the last two quarters of both the state semifinal and state championship games after struggling in the first half of both contests.

“It’s just being patient and disciplined and not forcing shots early on, and then being able to play in foul trouble, playing with some adversity and still being able to be successful,” Worrell said.

Stagg finished with 17 points in the semifinals after being limited to just two points in the first half due to foul trouble. He recovered from a three-point first half in the final to finish with a team-high 15 points, also leading his team with eight rebounds and four assists.

He said an honor like making the all-state first team “just continues to motivate me to work harder in the gym and get my teammates better because good players can make their teammates better.”