The Tyler Consolidated sharpshooter, who set a school record with a 43-point game last season, brings a little history to tonight's North-South All-Star Basketball Classic at the South Charleston Community Center.
He's the son of former Sistersville standout Richard Summers, who led the state in scoring in 1977-78 with a 38.2-point average. Richard Summers had several memorable small-school shootouts that season with Gary Fonner of nearby Bishop Donahue, who averaged 33.4 points and still holds the Wheeling Civic Center/WesBanco Arena single-game mark of 49.
Tyler Consolidated’s Ryan Summers suits up for the North tonight.
Richard Summers fired in 74 points against Wirt County that season for Sistersville, which was later swallowed up by Tyler Consolidated.
"I've heard a lot of stories over the years about how great he was and everything,'' said Ryan Summers, who suits up tonight for the North All-Stars. "But he tries to build me up as much as he can to follow in his footsteps.
"He usually doesn't try to talk too much on himself. If people come up to me on the street, they'll say he was great, but I'm a good player, too. He doesn't say anything to me about [who the better player is]. We don't play much one-on-one; his knees are bad. But he usually gets me in H-O-R-S-E.''
The Summers saga also draws a perfect little circle. Richard Summers is now the volleyball coach at Tyler, which won the AA state title last fall, the school's first team championship in any sport. His best athlete was Cameron Yoho, a Marshall recruit who was selected as the state's player of the year.
Her father is Kent Yoho who, like Richard Summers, also led the state in scoring in basketball. Kent Yoho averaged 26.1 points in 1981 at Cameron, another Ohio Valley Class A school.
nn
Tonight's skills competitions should be memorable, especially the 3-point shootout.
Two of the state's top three 3-point marksmen from last season will try their hand in the event, Cory Willard of Wyoming East (110 goals) and Brett McClanahan of Nitro (88).
"I've been practicing for it,'' said Willard, who canned 11 3s in a game against Poca last season. "I'm gonna have my confidence. I think I'm going to be right there in it, and I might win it.
"You're going to have the best 3-point shooters in the state. It's going to be action-packed. The whole game, the slam dunk, the 3-point contest - every bit of it's just action-packed.''
Said McClanahan: "It'll be interesting. There are a lot of good shooters in this year's game - a lot. We'll see what happens and try to have fun.''
Willard and McClanahan were disappointed to hear that Ravenswood's Dusty Mullins won't be competing. Mullins led the state in 3-pointers as a junior and was fourth this season with 85.
"I've been in the Glenville State lifting program,'' Mullins said, "and I'm real sore right now and my shot's a little off. I'm trying to get jump shots in this week and get my form back. I like to go at it whenever I can, but not this week. It wouldn't be fair.''
Ryan Summers is a son of a gun.
The Tyler Consolidated sharpshooter, who set a school record with a 43-point game last season, brings a little history to tonight's North-South All-Star Basketball Classic at the South Charleston Community Center.
He's the son of former Sistersville standout Richard Summers, who led the state in scoring in 1977-78 with a 38.2-point average. Richard Summers had several memorable small-school shootouts that season with Gary Fonner of nearby Bishop Donahue, who averaged 33.4 points and still holds the Wheeling Civic Center/WesBanco Arena single-game mark of 49.
Richard Summers fired in 74 points against Wirt County that season for Sistersville, which was later swallowed up by Tyler Consolidated.
"I've heard a lot of stories over the years about how great he was and everything,'' said Ryan Summers, who suits up tonight for the North All-Stars. "But he tries to build me up as much as he can to follow in his footsteps.
"He usually doesn't try to talk too much on himself. If people come up to me on the street, they'll say he was great, but I'm a good player, too. He doesn't say anything to me about [who the better player is]. We don't play much one-on-one; his knees are bad. But he usually gets me in H-O-R-S-E.''
The Summers saga also draws a perfect little circle. Richard Summers is now the volleyball coach at Tyler, which won the AA state title last fall, the school's first team championship in any sport. His best athlete was Cameron Yoho, a Marshall recruit who was selected as the state's player of the year.
Her father is Kent Yoho who, like Richard Summers, also led the state in scoring in basketball. Kent Yoho averaged 26.1 points in 1981 at Cameron, another Ohio Valley Class A school.
nn
Tonight's skills competitions should be memorable, especially the 3-point shootout.
Two of the state's top three 3-point marksmen from last season will try their hand in the event, Cory Willard of Wyoming East (110 goals) and Brett McClanahan of Nitro (88).
"I've been practicing for it,'' said Willard, who canned 11 3s in a game against Poca last season. "I'm gonna have my confidence. I think I'm going to be right there in it, and I might win it.
"You're going to have the best 3-point shooters in the state. It's going to be action-packed. The whole game, the slam dunk, the 3-point contest - every bit of it's just action-packed.''
Said McClanahan: "It'll be interesting. There are a lot of good shooters in this year's game - a lot. We'll see what happens and try to have fun.''
Willard and McClanahan were disappointed to hear that Ravenswood's Dusty Mullins won't be competing. Mullins led the state in 3-pointers as a junior and was fourth this season with 85.
"I've been in the Glenville State lifting program,'' Mullins said, "and I'm real sore right now and my shot's a little off. I'm trying to get jump shots in this week and get my form back. I like to go at it whenever I can, but not this week. It wouldn't be fair.''
nn
Bridgeport's Bryant Irwin, playing tonight for the North, will hopefully elude the bad luck that's dogged the most recent winners of the state player of the year award.
Brandon Moore of Spring Valley, the 2003 winner, transferred from Division I Eastern Kentucky to WVU Tech and fell completely off the radar when he sat out his junior season for personal reasons.
Adam Williams of St. Albans (2004) has become a nomad - starting out at IMG Academy (Fla.), heading to Kentucky (where he played sparingly) and then Marshall (where he's played sparingly).
Josh "Cookie'' Miller of Capital (2005) has a pretty good gig going now at Nebraska, but was largely unwanted coming out of high school and had to toil two seasons at Harmony Community School in Cincinnati before getting his break.
Patrick Patterson of Huntington (2006) was a pillar of strength at Kentucky for 25 games, averaging 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds, but a broken ankle ended his season.
O.J. Mayo of Huntington (2007) could be one of the top picks in next week's NBA draft, but recent charges say he accepted improper cash and gifts while playing for the Highlanders and USC.
Irwin, of course, views all this as circumstantial.
"I wasn't familiar with any of this,'' he said Thursday during a break at North practice. "But I'm not worried about it. I'm just going to go out and play.''
Irwin's only bad news concerned his high school point guard, Derek Gilbert, who was supposed to play in the North-South game, but was injured in a bicycle accident last weekend.
nn
Unlike the North-South football game, which had several key defections, the hoops contest drew the top players. Four of the top five in the player of the voting are on hand - Irwin, Malik Witten of Capital, McClanahan and Andrew Gunnoe of Summers County. Runner-up Noah Cottrill of Poca was just a sophomore.
Two South athletes are pulling double duty this weekend, playing in both the North-South basketball and football games - Tyrone Goard of Capital and Ansel Ponder of Bluefield.
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