By Al Muskewitz
Oxford’s Houck foregoes a traditional Senior Night start to give one of his senior teammates a chance to experience the spotlight; Jackets win by 9
OXFORD – Senior Night is usually one of the most exciting nights in a high school athlete’s career. It’s the night the home crowd comes to celebrate all the work they’ve done to make their team a success and recognize the time they’ve put in there.
As decorated a career as Rylan Houck has had at Oxford, this was supposed to be the night to appreciate the contributions of the most celebrated senior on the team.
But there’s another reason the 6-foot-7 forward is in that position. Houck is famously a team guy and with six seniors on the roster for a game that has a five-man starting lineup, he literally took one for the team Tuesday night.
He volunteered to forego his usual starting assignment on this of all nights so one of his less-heralded senior teammates could have their moment in the spotlight.
It was just another element to underscore a special night in the Yellow Jackets’ eventual 68-59 victory over Gadsden City.
“That tells you all you need to know about the kid,” Jackets coach Joel VanMeter said. “He is our leader and that’s what leaders do – they sacrifice, they give of themselves. (Lipscomb coach) Lenny Acuff is getting a really good player. I’ve always said this, he’s getting a really good player and a better person.”
This was no spur-of-the-moment decision. Houck said he knew from the first day of practice he was going to step aside on Senior Night.
As a 1,000-point scorer, Division I signee and genuine go-to guy in the lineup, it’s an upset when Houck is not on the floor. But on this night he gladly stepped aside for Kyler Wright, Mike McGraw, J.D. Jones, Zurrell Garrett and Aaron McFarland to draw the start. It’ll be up to you to decide which of them was the odd-man-in as Houck’s starter.
“There was no hesitation from me; I wasn’t even worried,” Houck said. “We spend so much time together. We’re in the gym, we’re outside, we’re going to watch basketball games, we’re going to people’s houses watching games. This is as close to any people in my life that I’ve ever been.
“For me, I need to do a lot more than sit out a basketball game for them. I need to give them all my time, my energy, my effort. I feel like this is just a little part of that. Obviously, I wasn’t thinking about it all the time, but there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to see those guys run out there and see a smile on their face.”
It wasn’t long after the tip Houck was back in his usual spot on the floor, but he didn’t hit the scoring column until the second quarter. Still, he wound up with a team-high 20 points. All five of the other seniors scored as well, with McFarland completing the set with a basket in the fourth quarter.
In all, nine of the 11 Yellow Jackets who got in the game scored. Eighth-grader Jaylen Alexander was their second-leading scorer with 17 points.
“It’s a really good feeling,” McFarland said, “but I think all six of us are a really tight group. Any of us would’ve given up that spot. We’re brothers. We care about each other. It does feel special, but I’d do the same thing for him.”
There really wasn’t much to the game. It was close early, then the Jackets steadily began pulling away. They led by 11 at halftime and a 14-4 run at the end of the third quarter gave them an 18-point lead. The lead remained in double digits until the final minute of the game.
Oxford 68, Gadsden City 59
GADSDEN CITY – Dylan Sawyer 7 6-7 22, Maleek Kidd 4 0-0 8, Khamari Smith 2 0-0 4, Javien Watters 2 1-2 5, Mica Merriman 1 1-2 4, Brelon Reynolds 0 0-0 0, James McFadden 3 0-0 6, Qwon Bridges 1 1-1 3, Austin Rigsby 0 0-0 0, Javaradus Parker 1 0-0 3, Nilijuan Vinson 2 0-1 4. Totals 23 9-13 59.
OXFORD – Jaylen Alexander 7 2-3 17, Zurrell Garrett 0 1-3 1, Rylan Houck 7 4-4 20, Kyler Wright 3 1-2 8, Aaron McFarland 1 0-0 2, J.D. Jones 2 0-1 4, Mike McGraw 2 2-2 6, Jayden Lewis 2 1-2 5, Ashton Mitchell 1 3-4 5, Cristian Gibson 0 0-0 0, Brock Reaves 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 14-21 68.
Gadsden City 9 10 14 26 – 59
Oxford 15 15 21 17 – 68
3-point goals: Gadsden City 4 (Sawyer 2, Merriman, Parker); Oxford 4 (Alexander, Houck 2, Wright). Total fouls: Gadsden City 19, Oxford 15. Officials: Kelley, Warren, Jarrett. [**read more]
