Small frame, big game - bigger expectations
23.05.12
MOUTH OF WILSON, Va. The jerseys that hang on the wall shoulder-to-shoulder behind one basket inside the venerable gym at Oak Hill Academy come in all colors of the rainbow. They are college jerseys of the alums produced by the celebrated prep basketball dynasty in rural Virginia. There is the Syracuse No. 15 of Carmelo Anthony. The Duke No. 2 of Nolan Smith. The Kentucky No. 4 of Rajon Rondo. The North Carolina No. 42 of Jerry Stackhouse. There are jerseys from St. John's and Arizona and Virginia and Florida and Pitt. Before this season a total of 153 players had been groomed at Oak Hill to play Division 1 college basketball, but not a single one of those 153 guys was a 5-foot-11, 160-pound white kid with a funny-looking sidespin jump shot who describes himself as "not athletic" and constantly fields questions about whether or not he can dunk.
Tyler Lewis, who is all of those things, remembers the first time he ever came in contact with the Oak Hill Warriors. As a sixth grader at Statesville Christian School, Lewis witnessed Oak Hill trounce his team by 36 points led by North Carolina recruit Ty Lawson. A starstruck Lewis posed for a photo with Lawson after the game. By the time Lewis reached the 10th grade at Forsyth Country Day School in Lewisville, N.C., his father, Rick, who was also his AAU coach for eight years, arranged for his son to make the 90-minute drive north to Oak Hill to scrimmage against Warriors like Doron Lamb and Pe'Shon Howard.
Source: Charlotte Observer