Dartmouth teen chases his hoop dreams at storied U.S. prep school

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 not the first Canadian to play for tiny Oak Hill. Rachelle Coward from the Dartmouth, N.S., area also played for the Baptist-affiliated co-ed boarding school. As did Shylanda Saunders of East Preston, N.S.

About 100 students currently attend the school. Fifty of those kids play on one of the basketball teams.

'Probably our best player'

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 pull-ups, 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 multi-coloured 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."

1 of 29 Canadians in U.S. prep programs

Then there are the championship banners, including nine from U.S. national titles captured in Smith's 32 years as head coach.

The whistle signals the start of the game, and it's quickly apparent that Washington is no match for the Warriors. Wigginton is burying three-pointers and throwing down dunks. His best friend on the team, Devontae Shuler — "they're like Tom and Jerry, Frick and Frack," says Smith — is giving Washington fits with his lightning-quick reflexes. He has six steals in the first quarter alone.

Wigginton, one of 29 Canadians in U.S. prep programs that Canada Basketball is tracking, would finish with 25 points, nine assists and a pair of steals in a lopsided 107-60 win.

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.

"They were really close," said mom Nicole. "He used to have Linny on the court day and night."

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 just over 1,000 residents, when he was just 15.

Off the beaten path

"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. I think that's helped his game more than anything.

"And then the experience of practising every day with good players, players who are comparable with his ability, and then our schedule, we play the best high school schedule in the country, so he's benefited immensely by being here multiple years."

Nicole takes comfort in the fact her son is well cared for in Virginia, away from the hardscrabble Dartmouth neighbourhood in which he grew up.

"It's gotten bad over the last few years. It used to be that you didn't have to worry about stuff like you do now," she said.

"And things that are going on now are kind of people he knows, the people who are involved are people he grew up around."

Oak Hill is so far off the beaten path, meanwhile, there is no chance of trouble finding it.

"The first time I arrived at Oak Hill, I saw a little sign that said 'Oak Hill' I turned off, we came on the back side of campus on this dirt road, gravel road. It was crazy," said Stackhouse, who played 18 years in the NBA and is now coach of the Raptors 905, Toronto's D-League franchise.

"But it was cool, man, a great experience there. I had never seen anything like that, coming up in the mountains like that. It was all new to me.

"The basketball was great," he added. "Everywhere we went, we were a travelling show. When you hear the name, you associate it with top-level high school basketball."

Strict rules

Oak Hill students follow strict rules. No cellphones on weekdays. No cars. They attend church. Rooms are inspected daily for cleanliness. They wear uniforms and must be clean-shaven. They're out of bed by 7 a.m. Nightly quiet time for studying is 8:30-10:30.

"It helps them concentrate on the academics and basketball," Smith said.

"They don't have any distractions. People can't get at them and tell them how good they are, and agents and people like that don't bother them. They're isolated here, which is a good thing."

They'll play more than 40 games this season, travelling as far as Hawaii and California. On Monday, the Warriors were in Springfield, Mass., playing in the Spalding HoopHall Classic at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They dropped an 80-77 decision to Seattle's Nathan Hale High School, just their third loss this season. ESPNU broadcast the game. Back home in Virginia, the Oak Hill students gathered to watch the game in the school chapel.

"[Wigginton] is playing big-time basketball," Smith said. "At the high school level, you can't get any bigger than this."

Wigginton manages to maintain top grades in his classes despite a tough travel schedule that sees them fly in and out of Charlotte, a two-hour winding drive from Oak Hill.

"It's challenging at times, but it just prepares you for the future," he said. "Here every day I'm playing against the best players in the country. We've got five or six guys ranked in the ESPN Top-100, so just playing against them every day is making me better, and making them better as well. It's preparing me on the court, and school-wise it's preparing me too, because it's more like a college."

The next step in his journey will be to play for Iowa State, which is where Wigginton has committed to playing next year.

Oak Hill, which sits on about 160 hectares of rolling hills, was established in 1878. Back in the late '70s, enrolment was dropping and then-president Robert Isner and his son Chuck decided an elite basketball program could be the solution. The story goes that Chuck jumped in his car, drove up to Washington, D.C., and came back with a half a dozen players in one weekend.

"I don't know what type of kids they were, but they were just getting started, they couldn't be real selective," Smith said.

The team went 22-3 that inaugural season and the program was off and running.

$35K USD tuition

A year at Oak Hill costs about US$35,000, but scholarships based on financial need pay for most of that for students such as Wigginton.

Smith and his wife Lisa are like surrogate parents. Lisa is the school's registrar and the unofficial assistant to the athletic director (her husband). On a quiet morning of classes, Lisa calls Wigginton down to the school office. She pauses to inspect a gash on his thumb and decides it's healing nicely.

Smith finds it rewarding to work with players at such a formative age.

"I'm around them all the time," said Smith, sitting in his office, which is virtually wallpapered with team photos and plaques. Rows of trophies cover every available inch of shelving.

"We go to church together, we eat in the cafeteria together, we hang out together. I'm like their mentor. Sometimes you're almost like their dad away from home. I like that part of it. I like the relationships you have with the players.

"My wife is like their mother away from home. She has close contact with all the mothers. You send your kid a long way away, you don't want to him to be unhappy, or not with people who care about him, or want to take care of him besides just as a basketball player."

The Naismith Hall of Fame nominee has turned down plenty of job offers. The most recent was in 1997. He had decided to take a job offer at Louisville and was there looking at houses.

17 Oak Hill grads have been drafted into NBA

"When I got home my wife goes, 'You need to go talk to your daughter.' She heard us on the phone. She was crying. I didn't take that job. I was in my early 40s then. After that, I never entertained leaving."

He maintains close ties with most of the 17 grads who were drafted into the NBA. He and his wife have attended countless weddings.

"Our program, it's like a fraternity," Smith said.

"They'll come to our games on the road, they'll come into the locker room and talk to the guys. If we play well or we're on TV, they'll call me. I've had them ask me about Lindell, too. They like Lindell. Last year [New York Knicks guard] Brandon Jennings came in and worked out for a week, he was impressed with Lindell.

"I know talent, but they're in the NBA, so I talk to them and say 'How about this guy? What about this guy?' They said Lindell's got a good chance. And those are pros, so they know what they're looking at."

If the Canadian was 6-4 or 6-5, "I'd say 'lock,"' Smith said. "But he's not. He's just got to keep working. He's not going to not work. That's not in his DNA. His DNA is to work hard all the time. So if he doesn't make it, it's not going to be because of lack of effort."

Stackhouse is also a fan. Wigginton played alongside his son Antonio on his AAU team Stackhouse Elite.

"Him and my son are like peas in a pod when they're together," said Stackhouse. "He's just a bright kid, and I'm excited to see what the next step is for him."