Boys Basketball: Reaching new heights
Published 3:42 pm Wednesday, February 11, 2015
by MICHAEL DASHIELL
Sequim Gazette
In his three-and-a-half decades as an assistant or a head coach at Sequim High, Larry Hill has seen his share of basketball players, his share of styles.
There’s a certain kind of player — the fierce, teeth-clenching, uber-physical, wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve type — that holds a special place in his heart.
Alex Barry is not one of those kinds of players.
And for Hill, for SHS head coach Greg Glasser, for Barry’s teammates and for the Sequim faithful, that’s just fine.
“There are things about him that frustrate me — it’s that even keeledness,” Hill says. “I want competitiveness and toughness. Alex is tough — just tough in a different kind of way.”
Tough to defend, tough to get past, tough to rattle — it’s a common theme for Barry’s foes for the better part of four seasons, as the Sequim High senior has developed into one of the more dynamic players in the Olympic League. Long and lean, the 6-foot 5-inch Barry seems to feel comfortable anywhere on a basketball court, particularly anywhere inside the half-court line. For all of the other facets of his game — the rebounding, the passing, the court vision, the anticipation on defense — it’s the ease with which Barry lofts NBA-range (and beyond) 3-pointers that draws the gasps and the cheers.
Case in point was last Tuesday night’s match-up with league-leading North Kitsap. After watching Viking big man Calvin Dennis, a leading candidate for the league MVP, muscle inside for a pair of baskets, Barry calmly dribbled up court, took one deliberate step onto North Kitsap’s end of the court and drained a 3-pointer, the home crowd erupting in “MVP! MVP!” chants.
It’s that smooth, relaxed motion from anywhere 40 feet and in that still bewilders those who’ve seem him play the most.
“There’s got to be some kind of scientific explanation,” Sequim coach Greg Glasser says of Barry’s stroke.
“He has always stretched defenses with his shooting ability,” Glasser says, “but he surprises a lot of people defensively.”
With more than 70 steals racked up this season, Barry surpassed Sequim High’s all-time single-season mark of 65 (set by Chad Jacobs, 1997-1998) and is now second on the school’s all-time list (also Jacobs).
If he’s not stealing a pass, Barry, is helping teammates down low, using his long arm span to block shots (he’s second all-time, behind Brady Marunde) or snag rebounds (also second, behind former teammate Gabe Carter).
“I didn’t anticipate him being as long (as he is),” Hill says. “That’s what makes him special at the high school level. He can control the ball with his fingertips. He may have the wingspan of someone who’s 6-7.”
Then, with the ball going the other way, Barry becomes downright lethal, able to pull up from 35 feet or drive to the hoop and use his length to get a shot over just about anyone in his way. With a scoring average of about 20.5 points per game, Barry ranks seventh all-time heading into Thursday night’s West Central District game at Lindbergh and he trails only Ary Webb on SHS’s all-time 3-point field goal list.
“His court vision is outstanding,” Hill says, “but for out team, we don’t want him passing a lot.”
Barry grew up just outside of Salt Lake City. He recalls playing all kinds of sports in his younger years, from soccer to swimming and baseball, cross country, track and field and more.
Already with a half marathon under his belt before he and family moved to Sequim to start middle school, Barry fully expected to be a runner.
“I planned to run all the way into college,” Barry says.
Those plans changed fairly quickly, however, when a growth spurt put Barry from a long, lean 5-and-a-half-feet to a longer, leaner 6-5 as he entered high school. He kept running for a time but his body didn’t adapt well and after his final cross country meet — an Oct. 18, 2012, Olympic League meet he ran with current hoops teammate Jackson Oliver — Barry was resigned to doing track and field events in the spring and lots of basketball in between.
Barry says a key to developing his game was playing select basketball with the local Next Level program, learning the ins and outs on the hardwood almost year-round with teammates Carter, Jayson Brocklesby and Tim Guan.
“Just getting to see older players, better players, faster pace (was important),” Barry says.
He also hit the gym to add strength, and while he most times isn’t the biggest player on the court, his coaches say Barry’s strength surprises foes.
(In the spring, Barry puts that strength on display in the javelin: he took third on the event at the class 2A state meet and is the top returning 2A thrower in the state in 2015).
“Out here on the peninsula, guys (with talent) can get complacent,” Glasser says. “He never became complacent.”
Barry says he’s still got plenty to learn, particularly with his ball-handling.
“There’s always something I can work on,” Barry says.
Each time the Wolves suit up for a game, Glasser, the Wolves’ coach, writes five names on a dry-erase white board, the starters for the night.
Sometime before tipoff, someone else — Glasser insists he doesn’t know who — pens in the remaining four players’ names, writes “family” above that and circles it.
It’s that kind of togetherness — that, a 14-6 record and nine wins in their past 10 games — that has the Wolves in a good frame of mind heading into the district playoffs.
While Barry’s numbers continue to pace the Wolves in most categories, Glasser and company revel in the idea that everyone on the team is ready, willing, able and, on many nights, contributing in big ways to wins. As evidenced by Sequim’s big 69-62 win against the Vikings last week, the Wolves have plenty of firepower from the outside from guards Jackson Oliver and Dusty Bates, tough defense and rebounding from post Josh McConnaughey, a bit of everything from guards Vance Willis, Alex Rutherford and Payton Glasser, and high energy efforts from reserves Austin Adams and Adrian Espinoza.
That’s what makes for nightmare match-ups for a lot of teams facing Sequim, who first must decide how to guard the relatively unguardable Barry and then deal with a senior-heavy (seven of nine) Sequim squad who are ready to pass up good shots for a teammate’s better shot.
“Our guys don’t care who takes the shot,” Glasser says. “It’s important that everybody understand that their teammates believe in them and that I do, too.”
With varsity playing time dating back to his freshman year, Barry may be more prepared than anyone else on the Sequim squad for the rigors of postseason play. Hill says Barry’s makeup is aptly suited for it.
“He’s really competitive. You wouldn’t think that’s part of his makeup,” Hill says. “He’s very effective in pressure situations.”
And after high school? Barry has eyes Washington State University, Western Washington University and on several schools, one of which will help pay tuition for playing hoops or competing in track and field events. Hill says that Barry, a solid performer in the classroom as well, shouldn’t have a problem getting much of his schooling paid for.
As for studies, Barry is eying “something,” he says, “that prepares me for law school.”
The courtroom, it seems, fits Barry’s demeanor.
“I don’t get too nervous,” he says.
