Rising star Spencer leads Price title quest
In the backyard of the family home, Skylar Spencer of Los Angeles Price recorded his first dunk when he was in eighth grade.
“My dad said if I dunk it, I’d get an Xbox,” the 6-foot-8 Spencer said. “I was real happy, and the rest is history.”
Dunks, rebounds, blocked shots — they come so often that Spencer’s father, Victor, would have to work three jobs if he made any more offers to his son.
“It was worth it,” Victor said. “You do well, you get rewards. You do bad, you get punished. He’s a good kid.”
The last observation — “He’s a good kid” — is the most powerful evidence of how bright the future is for Spencer.
He has a 3.7 grade-point average and a scholarship waiting for him at San Diego State, and has led Price to within one victory of earning a trip to the state Division IV championship game in Sacramento. Standing in the way is Gardena Serra, and the two teams are set to square off in the Southern California Regional final at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ontario Colony High School.
If you ask experts which high school players have the best chance to play one day in the NBA, Spencer’s name will come up fast. He’s a big man with immense skills, and they’re getting better seemingly each time he steps on the court.
“As a ninth-grader, he was this 6-4 gangly kid,” Price Coach Michael Lynch said. “He has a gift. His gift is blocking shots and rebounding and finishing around the rim. He has a fit for it. All tall people aren’t great shot-blockers. He happens to have mastered it. What doesn’t hurt is that he has a 7-foot-2 wing span.”
Reaching double figures in blocks has occurred more than once this season for Spencer. He has emerged as one of the best intimidators among the centers in Southern California. And he showed this week he can make clutch free throws, something big men have struggled with.
It was his two free throws with 6.9 seconds left that gave Price a 53-52 victory over La Verne Lutheran in the semifinals. The crowd was yelling, the pressure was rising and Spencer said, “I kind of blanked it out and cleared my mind. I focused on the shots, and everything else didn’t matter.”
Said his father: “It was the biggest free throws of his life. It’s something he’s improved on.”
Yes, Spencer worked on his free-throw shooting, especially after watching 6-10 Grant Jerrett make 11 consecutive free throws this season in a Lutheran victory over Price. Spencer is averaging 13 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks this season and knows that if a big man can make free throws, the sky’s the limit with all the fouls he picks up inside.
Spencer’s first name, Skylar, and nickname, Sky, were chosen because his 6-4 father and 6-2 mother knew he’d be tall when he grew up. And his father wanted a “good handle” for his son’s basketball days.
As much as Victor has tried to prepare his son for sports competition, such as tying his right arm to his body to force him to learn to use his left arm and become ambidextrous, there’s really no way to teach heart, and that’s what the youngster has.
“I call him a lunch-pail player,” Lynch said. “He puts on a hard hat and goes to work every time. You know exactly what you’re going to get. He has an incredible heart. He has a refuse-to-give-up heart.”
Said Spencer: “Some people are born with it. I don’t know if it can be taught or inspired. You have it or you don’t. I want to win every game.”
Whatever happens this weekend, whether Spencer gets a shot to play for a state title or his senior season comes to an end, this is just the beginning of his basketball journey. In the coming years, he’s going to be taken to places he has always dreamed of and meet people who marvel at his special skills.
“He’ll get paid to play somewhere,” Lynch said. “It’s a gift.”