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Prep Roundup
Columnists Brian Meadows Brad NormanMembersLocal Connection› Iredell County Young Athletes Association› South Iredell Athletics Association › SHS athletics › WIHS athletics › NIHS athletics › SIHS athletics › LNHS athletics Syndicate RSSAP NASCAR NASCAR Features A look at this year's schedule A look at this year's drivers Differences between stock car and open-wheel racing NASCAR Research & Development Petty Enterprises splitter testing Aerodynamic testing in Concord's wind tunnel Top 10 moments in Daytona history Site StatisticsThis page has been viewed 800769 timesPage rendered in 0.2251 seconds Total Stories: 2136 Total Comments: 34 Most Recent Entry: 08/15/2008 01:53 pm Most Recent Comment on: 04/17/2008 11:54 pm Most Recent Visitor on: 05/22/2012 09:49 am |
• Public Schools • Mooresville High School • top story
2008 Mar-23
R&L COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Blue Devils coach on Huntley: ‘He did whatever it took for us to win’By Brian Meadows MOORESVILLE - Justin Huntley strolled through the Mooresville gymnasium doors wearing sunglasses and playfully announced his arrival. “The Show is here,” Huntley trumpeted. The senior’s entrance to the boys basketball team’s preseason open gym session that day last October was grand but somewhat tardy. About 15 players had already worked up a 30-minute sweat. Blue Devils coach Mike Micklow turned to Huntley and quipped, “So, are you actually going to play today?” Huntley responded as though he was on a movie set, ready to roll film. The 6-foot-3 guard dropped his hands together like a clapboard and said, “Action.” “He had three 3-pointers and four dunks in just a few minutes,” Micklow recalled. “He didn’t mess around.” Micklow harkened back to the Huntley’s charade Jan. 22, prior to one of the Blue Devils’ biggest regular-season games. East Rowan was in town. The Mustangs carted their perfect 11-0 record in the North Piedmont 3A with them. Hoping to put an added charge in his star, Micklow pulled Huntley aside before tipoff and asked to see the “action.” Huntley answered the challenge, pouring in a game-high 25 points to lead the Blue Devils to a stunning 95-77 romp over the conference front-runner. “He did whatever it took for us to win,” Micklow said of the R&L county boys basketball player of the year. A high-flying lefthander with a soft shooting touch and incredible dribble penetrating skills, Huntley averaged 16.4 points, 6.4 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 steals per game this season. He led the Blue Devils in three of the four categories. His production didn’t take a nosedive, despite a position switch. At the end of his junior year, when Mooresville finished 7-17 and missed the playoffs for the third straight season, Huntley was asked to consider moving from off guard to point guard. “I said, ‘Justin, how do you feel about handling (the ball)?’ ” said Micklow, noting they were losing their starter. “I told him it’s probably going to hurt his points. He said, ‘Whatever it takes to win, Coach. I have no problem handling the ball.’ “I’ve been very privileged to have a kid with his type of attitude.” The Blue Devils began gearing their offense differently during the summer, putting more emphasis on the transition game. “That’s really what we all wanted,” said Huntley, who also quarterbacked their motion offense. “Instead of slowing the game down, pick the pace up. Coach said we could go for it, so we practiced over the summer at camp and scrimmages. It seemed to work well for us.” The up-tempo style created more possessions. It paved the way to some huge scoring nights for Huntley. Like his 29-point outburst against Statesville, where he rained in five 3-pointers. Nine times this season Huntley eclipsed the 25-point mark. He did it in both of Mooresville’s state playoff games. Huntley matched his season-high 29 in the second round. But it wasn’t enough to carry the Blue Devils to their fourth section final in eight years, much less keep Cinderella’s state championship dreams alive. They lost 69-55 to Asheville and finished the season 15-10. “We got T-shirts that said, ‘The road to Chapel Hill,’ ” Huntley said. “We believed it. We really wanted it.” Now colleges want Huntley. Catawba, Johnson C. Smith, Pfeiffer and Virginia State are among those sizing up the Mooresville product, who transferred from Charlotte’s Victory Christian as a junior. “I was real excited to have him for the last year-and-a-half,” said Micklow, who likened Huntley to a combination of Joe Brice and E.J. Wilson, two former Mooresville standouts. “Wish I would have had him a couple more years.” Bookmarkz |
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