Nova Scotia teen has sights set on NBA
Several decades of basketball greatness can be found at the end of a two-lane, unlit highway that winds unforgivingly through the Blue Ridge Mountains in southern Virginia.
Past the Christmas tree farms, grazing cows and Baptist churches – long after cellphone service has disappeared – you’ll find Oak Hill Academy and its storied Turner Gymnasium.
Modest in size but draped in history, the 400-seat gym is where the likes of Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Jerry Stackhouse once famously dominated their opponents as gifted kids.
It’s also the place Nova Scotia teenager Lindell Wigginton has chosen as his launching pad with the goal of becoming the first Maritimer to play in the NBA.
“I never came down here for a visit first, so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Wigginton said of his arrival at Oak Hill. “Coach Taylor (Conn, an assistant) picked me up from the airport and we were driving for a long time, through the mountains, and I’m thinking ‘Where are we going? Where is he taking me?’
“When I got here, I was kind of shocked. I thought it was going to be a big arena, because Oak Hill is such a big name. But I knew it was a powerhouse program and I just wanted to come in, and be the best player I could be.”
The six-foot-two guard from Dartmouth is the first Canadian to play for tiny Oak Hill, a Baptist-affiliated co-ed boarding school of some 100 students. Fifty of those kids play on one of the basketball teams.
He was the team’s top scorer last season, leading the Warriors to a 45-1 record, and a U.S. national high school title. In the championship game at Madison Square Garden, Wigginton converted a three-point play with 29 seconds left in overtime en route to a 62-60 victory over Indiana’s La Lumiere.
“He’s probably our best player right now,” said Oak Hill’s legendary head coach Steve Smith. “Lindell is a fierce competitor, you can see how he plays. He’s aggressive. He doesn’t mind getting hit, when he goes to the basket he wants to get hit, he wants to go to the foul line, he wants three-point plays. But he can shoot from the perimeter too, he shoots pullups, he’s got the whole game.”
The Warriors were hosting Washington Academy of Greenville, N.C., on a recent weeknight. Alumni and students squeezed into the five rows of bleachers. (On weekends, the crowd swells by a few hundred more, with regulars driving from as far away as two hours.)
The grey gymnasium is a monument to the star players who’ve graced its court. Dozens of NCAA jerseys from its distinguished grads run the length of one wall like a multicoloured garland. Among them is the orange No. 15 Anthony wore at Syracuse and Stackhouse’s baby blue Tar Heels’ No. 42.
“It’s just really mind-blowing knowing the players who played here and the situation I’m in right now,” said Wigginton. “I always think about that. I always think about their names and where I can be.”
Then there are the championship banners, including nine from U.S. national titles captured in Smith’s 32 years as head coach.
The 18-year-old grew up with four brothers and a sister in Dartmouth. His brother Tyson, affectionately known as “Fern,” was the closest in age and would take Wigginton daily to the community Y or the outdoor courts to play before he died in a car accident five years ago.
Honouring Tyson, Wigginton said, is a big part of what drives him.
“He always wanted to see me do good,” Wigginton said. “He always provided for me when I needed something. So that’s really who I do it for.”
Wigginton left for Mouth of Wilson, a quaint community of a little more than 1,000 residents, when he was just 15.
“He came about 160 pounds. Scrawny. Never lifted a weight in his life,” Smith said. “Decent player, not a great player. I didn’t think he’d be as good as he is. He’s really improved, he’s worked hard, he’s changed his body, he’s gotten so much stronger.”