Independence basketball player Joshua Villanueva is the Bay Area News Group’s boys high school athlete of the week for Jan. 27 to Feb. 1.

In online voting that ended at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Villanueva finished with 42.55% of the vote. Santa Teresa basketball player Evan Guillermo took second and Liberty basketball player Jaiden Miller was third.

Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.

Villanueva, a senior, scored a game-high 26 points in Independence’s 65-35 win over Piedmont Hills.

To nominate an athlete for our next poll, email [email protected] by that Monday at 11 a.m. Please include stats and team results.

We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches/team statisticians for consideration.

Votes by email do not count. Only votes submitted through the online poll on the Mercury News and East Bay Times websites will count.

Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News and East Bay Times websites and in the print edition of the Mercury News and EB Times sports sections.