Three weeks after older brother Jake Hall was named Mountain West Freshman of the Year, Santa Fe Christian senior Dax Hall was named CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year.
A year after laying waste to county defenses, the elder Hall — a former Carlsbad High 3,000-point scorer — carried that scoring touch into his first season at the University of New Mexico, setting a freshman record with 506 points while leading all freshmen nationally in 3-point makes.
Not to be outdone, Dax turned in a season just as dominant, leading San Diego County with 27 points and 7.3 assists per game while powering Santa Fe Christian to a 26-win Open Division campaign. Like his brother before him, Dax had a torrid senior year (Jake Hall averaged 28.5 ppg at Carlsbad in 2025), never scoring fewer than 17 points in a game while piling up nine 30-point performances and a season-high 42 against Cathedral Catholic.
Dax joins Jake — the 2024 CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year — as one of only two sibling duos in county history to claim the honor, along with Troy Leaf (2010) and T.J. Leaf (2015, 2016) of Foothills Christian High School.
“Jake has had a ton of influence on me as a player,” Dax Hall told The Coast News this season. “But, if I were to point out one thing, I would say the work ethic sticks out to me the most. He always worked the hardest, and it really paid off for him and his success, so just doing my best to replicate that and work as hard as I can to continue to get better.”
Santa Fe Christian head coach Johnny Dee, who averaged 32 points per game as a senior at Rancho Buena Vista in 2010 and later became the all-time leading scorer at the University of San Diego, praised Dax Hall as a scorer and defender with exceptional court vision.
“He can make every pass on the floor and is an unbelievable scorer,” Dee said. “He’s also going to guard your best player. He doesn’t have a ton of weaknesses, and he’s super coachable. Overall, he’s a better player than I was in high school. When I was a freshman, I had a lot to learn — how to guard, how to play with intensity, and even spacing. I was just running around asking for the ball to play one-on-one. Dax already sees the floor, makes the right pass if you help or double him, and really understands the game at a high level.”
Jake Hall’s rapid ascent at the college level has come as little surprise to anyone around North County basketball. Back in November, after a start he felt fell short of his own standard, he told The Coast News:
“I feel like I’ve underperformed. I’m just trying to build off those tough games. Defensively, I want to guard everyone on the floor, one through five, fight off the switches, and keep developing on that end. Once I do that, I think it will lead to offensive success. I haven’t shot the ball great yet, but I’m leaning on my work ethic and trusting that the shots will drop. I’m nowhere near where I want to be.”
Jake Hall enters the NIT semifinals on April 2 against Tulsa, averaging 16.7 points per game.
Other North County hoopers to earn section honors include first-team selections CJ Aldrich (Sr., Rancho Buena Vista), Tevarus Green (Sr., Torrey Pines) and Nico Mott (Jr., San Marcos), as well as second-team pick Brady Berlucchi (Jr., La Costa Canyon).
On the girls’ side, first-team honors went to McKinley Hanlon (Jr., Cathedral Catholic), while second-team selections included Mallory Huhn (Sr., Carlsbad), Georgia Hawk (Jr., Carlsbad) and Keani Brown (Jr., La Costa Canyon).
