Cypress’ Derek Mitchell is the 2019 Coach of the Year, part of the Register’s 2019 All-County Boys basketball team photographed in the gym at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Cypress’ Derek Mitchell is the 2019 Coach of the Year, part of the Register’s 2019 All-County Boys basketball team photographed in the gym at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana on Tuesday, March 19, 2019. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Register’s All-County boys basketball teams for the 2018-19 seasons:

Coach of the Year: Derek Mitchell, Cypress

Cypress won the Empire League this season with a 10-0 record. The Centurions advanced to the quarterfinals of the CIF-Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs and finished 27-3 overall. They won the championships of two tournaments.

It was a terrific season for Cypress and for its coach, Derek Mitchell, who is the Orange County boys basketball coach of the year for the 20018-19 season.

This was the sixth season as Centurions head coach for Mitchell, 42. His father Doug Mitchell was girls basketball coach at Cypress and was an Orange County girls basketball coach of the year.

Mitchell, who played at Cypress, figured this could be a memorable season for the Centurions won they won two tournaments in December, the Coyote Classic at Buena Park and the Buc Pride Tournament at Bellflower.

“We beat St. Francis (of La Canada) in one tournament (Buc Pride) and Tesoro in the other (Coyote Classic),” Mitchell said. “I think the Tesoro game showed our guys we could compete with teams of bigger size which was important because that’s always been our issue.”

That was just the start of what would be a big season for Cypress.