After hitting 1,000 points, P-O basketball’s Ryan Whitehead hopes to start a new trend
Ryan Whitehead is proud that he accomplished part of the goal he set for himself his senior year — becoming the first Philipsburg-Osceola basketball player in more than two decades to score 1,000 career points. He even remembers the exact play when it happened — against Clearfield on Jan. 19 — and everything that happened afterward.
The senior forward grabbed an offensive rebound off a shot by teammate Oliver Harpster and put it back up for an easy bucket, eclipsing the threshold in the process. The game was then stopped and the senior was honored for his achievement as he shared the moment with some of the people who helped get him there.
“They actually stopped the game after they had a dead ball,” P-O head coach T.J. Anderson said. “He got the ball and hugged his mom and shook his dad’s hand and then the players came around and gave him a big hug. After the game was over, we all celebrated as a program because it’s the first time it’s been done in 20 years. So it’s definitely something to be proud of.”
The accomplishment on its own is admirable. It had been a long time since any Mountaineer boys’ basketball player had reached 1,000 career points, but Whitehead wants to be the first in the next line, not an outlier.
The senior wants to be the start of the turning point for the Philipsburg-Osceola boys’ basketball program, and believes there will be many more in the pipeline who can achieve that and help build a winning culture moving forward. That’s the second part of his goal.
“It was definitely something I had in mind early on,” Whitehead said. “Reaching that goal, you don’t hear that very often from our school. You hear that from other schools around the district, about people hitting that milestone. So getting that was something I wanted to bring back to our community.”
Whitehead and his new head coach have known each other long before the latter took over the program this offseason. The senior forward played for Anderson’s AAU basketball team and helped develop him into the player he is.
Now, Anderson is helping Whitehead — who has plenty of size at 6-foot-7 and more than enough athleticism to go with it — become a more physically fit player, improving his strength along the way.
“I wanted to get him a little bit stronger back in the spring,” Anderson said. “We have a 6 a.m. workout and he rarely misses those workouts. Getting stronger has affected his game tremendously, and conditioning was a bigger thing I wanted to stress with him and he’s done that tremendously, as well.”
That size can come in handy in more ways than one. There are the obvious benefits on the basketball court.
Whitehead excels around the rim, where he can finish through traffic — and sometimes over it — with a rim-rattling dunk. He can stretch the court and create space for his teammates because of his ability to make shots from beyond the arc. And when the team is in a pinch he can make those looks from the mid-range as well. His scoring acumen has led to him averaging 18.3 points per game.
His impact on defense is almost immeasurable. You can count the number of shots he blocks in the postgame box score (1.7 per game) and you can see how many rebounds he pulls down on both ends of the court (8.9 per game), but it’s more difficult to quantify the psychological impact he has on opponents. His size and length are intimidating in a way that alters the type of shots opponents take.
Sometimes they drive the lane, but see him nearby and pass up a layup opportunity to kick the ball out to a teammate. Sometimes they pull up and take a longer shot with the hope of getting it over him rather than testing him inside.
Those impacts are harder to quantify, just like the impact his size has as a leader.
“Ryan, because of who he is and how big he is, has a voice where everyone turns and listens to him,” Anderson said. “He has grown into that role and I’ve enjoyed watching him get from where he started to where he is now.”
For Whitehead, part of leadership is leaving a program better than when you joined it. And while he’s still navigating his senior year, it would be hard to argue he hasn’t already done that. The forward points to those younger players who could also join the 1,000-point club — his younger brother, Jeremy, and guards Jacob DeSimone and Harpster — and hopes that’s the real legacy he leaves.
That full impact won’t be seen for some time, but Whitehead has already done his part. He was happy to celebrate his moment with his family and friends, but still has his eyes set toward the future and on what’s to come.
“It was unreal, to be honest with you, to be the first person to do that in over 20 years at P-O,” Whitehead said. “It’s definitely something I’m going to remember for years to come. I’m just glad I did it and I can’t wait to see who else passes that milestone.”
