One thousand career points. Forty-two points scored in one game.
These are just two of many reasons why RHHS basketball player Chakiris Moss, Jr. has been named January’s Bryan County Athlete of the Month, making him the first two-time winner of this award.
Moss was on fire in the month of January - and any other time of the season for that matter. He averages an impressive 23 points per game, but that’s not all he’s good at.
"You won’t find a kid that contributes as much to a team as Chakiris does," Coach William Altman said. "If you look at the stats, he leads our team in points, steals, he’s like second or third in rebounding, and he just does so many things. He is a huge part of the success of this program and where this basketball program has come from. As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of how good he is doing."
With several teams ranked high in the overall state rankings, region competition was stiff – which makes Moss’s accomplishments all that more impressive.
"We ran into a monster and it’s called Region 3AAA," Altman said. "Night-in, night-out Chakiris has had to guard those six-foot-six guys that have been signed to division 1 schools. He’s met that challenge head-on. It’s not easy to be your best defender and your best offensive player as well."
Moss said he has been playing "the best ball I’ve ever played," and attributes much of that to being forced to up his game against tough competition. Moss said this was one of the driving factors in reaching the 1,000-point milestone.
"I remember my freshman year and I was watching a high school game on ESPN when a kid reached a thousand points," Moss said. "I turned to my dad and told him ‘if you score a thousand points, you have to play college basketball’ - not really knowing that I would go on to score a thousand points and have a chance to play college basketball."
And Moss, a senior, is looking at playing collegiate ball. He has received numerous offers, but has yet to make a decision on where he will end up next year. Moss said he is looking into which school may best fit in helping him reach his career goal of becoming a sports broadcaster.Honorable mentions: RHHS wrestler Zach Sheffield, BCHS basketball’s Winston Johnson and Tiffany Howard and RHHS basketball player Tyler Carlson.
To see a photographic history of all the past Bryan County Athlete of the Month award winners, click here http://community.bryancountynews.net/gallery/detail/67/