Portland Christian Standout Elijah Monnes Signs With Knights

For the season Monnes is putting up big numbers, averaging 18 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 6 steals.

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BORING - For the past four years, point guard Elijah Monnes has learned Warner Pacific College’s system under head coach Tyler Toney, a WPC grad.

It’s only fitting that on Sunday night, at his home in Boring, Oregon, Monnes signed a letter of intent to attend Warner Pacific next year to play basketball.

With family and Toney along side him, Monnes met with WPC head coach Bart Valentine, who coached Toney in high school and college, and talked about life after high school, including basketball at WPC.

The Knights have enjoyed great success this season, currently ranked #3 in the NAIA.

That achievement is part of what lured Monnes from Portland Christian purple to Warner Pacific blue.

“Warner has a great basketball program and I like the way Bart coaches,” said Monnes.

Valentine admits that he’s had his eye on Monnes, saying “The thing I really like about Elijah is he makes his teammates better. I think he’ll do the same thing at the college level.”

For the season Monnes is putting up big numbers, averaging 18 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 6 steals while shooting 53% from three point land.

Recently, he was honored by being a nominee for the McDonald’s All-American game this season and last season was selected All-Tournament Second Team at the 2A Boys State Tournament.

In one of Portland Christians biggest games so far this season versus #4 ranked De La Salle, Monnes dominated.

He scored 29 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 11 assists in the lop-sided 81-54 victory.

Nothing brings more joy to the Portland Christian fans and more frustration to the opponents than the fact that he is able to dominate a game, despite being only 5’ 7”.

“It just comes down to basketball IQ. Smart players win ball games. He makes so many good decisions both with and without the ball,” comments Toney.

Even though he has shown what he can do despite his size, many wondered if Monnes would be able to duplicate that success at the college level.

Valentine doesn’t seem worried, saying “We have a guard in our league who’s been an All-Conference guy three years in a row and he’s the same size, if not smaller than Elijah.”

However, Valentine admits that Monnes must get physically stronger to make it at the NAIA level.

His resume is long, his achievements plenty. Monnes has been a 4-year starter and every year has led PC to the state playoffs.

He has been a team captain since his sophomore year and he owns the state tournament record for assists at any level and has loads of triple doubles (even a quadruple-double) under his belt.

Monnes has been the clear star of the Portland Christian program but when asked about individual achievements and talk of Player of the Year possibilities at the 2A level he says, “As long as we win, that’s what matters.

Individual goals come after that.”

Teammate Jesse Severson says, “Elijah is one of the most competitive people I have ever met,” and head coach Toney agrees, but after watching a Warner Pacific basketball game, all Monnes had to say was, “Man, I have to put in a lot of work.”

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