Greenport’s Troy Myers is a force on the court

When head coach Justin Moore made plans for his Greenport High School boys basketball team, Troy Myers wasn’t on the radar.

These days, the junior point guard is on every opponent’s radar as the most dangerous player on the Porters. He is sixth in Suffolk County, averaging 21.6 points per game.

“It was a surprise,” Moore said last week. “He has family here. When we got the call that he was moving back, it was a blessing to us all. We’ll take it.”

Myers transferred from Rolesville High in Raleigh, N.C., moving with his mother, Ramona, in early December. Ramona played basketball for Greenport years ago, and Myers’ cousin, Ryan Creighton, is a Porters basketball legend.

“I had a really rough first series of high school basketball. I was going through injuries,” he said. “I think it would be a good decision for me to come up here and just play and finish out high school.”

From that first practice session in December, Moore realized he had a special player.

“We definitely have a stud player,” he said. “You can tell his talent was at another level. The biggest thing that stood out to me was like he stayed within the game plan. He just got better.”

The 6-foot-2, 170-pound Myers proved to be adept at scoring for the Porters (8-12, 7-9), who did not qualify for the Class C playoffs.

“He is playing amazing for us,” Moore said. “Troy is definitely a big talent, a very coachable kid. He has all the skills. He can shoot the ball, can jump. He can handle it, and he’s just a good teammate. Definitely a kid that we love to have in our program. He’s definitely made us competitive. He’s also helping the younger players that are first-time on our varsity.”

It has been more than just knocking down shots. Moore said that he has been impressed with Myers’ poise.

“It’s clear that when teams play us, they’re putting three to four people on him, he still stays poised,” he added. “He’s still making the right choices and decisions. He’s still scoring at a very high rate. He doesn’t seem to get flustered. That’s the biggest part.”

Myers started slowly, scoring seven points in his debut, a 61-34 loss at Southold on Dec. 9. The next day, he netted 20 points in a 61-49 defeat at Mattituck.

“My first game was very rough because I was getting adjusted,” he said. “Everything was so new to me.”

Then came a career night, totaling a season-high 44 points in a 76-71 double-overtime victory over Ross on Dec. 15.

“That was an amazing game,” Moore said. “He seemed to just get a little comfortable. He was knocking down his shots. What also made those 44 points even more special, is that it was in a double overtime game. All 44 points were needed. It definitely was a big statement game for him.”

Myers admitted that he wasn’t counting.

“I didn’t even know I had 44 points, because I thought I had like 20 points,” he said. “I was on a slow start a little bit. I just realized I had to take over this game. I wanted to win the game.”

Myers was hitting from all over the court. He canned five of eight shots from three-point range and sank 16 of 19 attempts from the foul line.

“I did put a lot of pressure on to the rim,” he said about his drives to the basket.

Being the new kid on the block in a new school, Myers had to go through a transition on and off the court.

“The transition was very hard at first, because coming from a really big school in North Carolina and coming here to a smaller school,” he said. “The weather was a big adjustment. I feel like I adapted very well.”

At Rolesville, Myers was a shooting guard. With Greenport, he took on point guard responsibilities.

“It’s a new thing to me,” he said. “This year was really a big learning experience.”

Myers would like to follow in the footsteps of his older brother, DJ Myers, who played at Western Carolina University and Fayetteville University, and hopefully play professionally.

“I want to play pro-level basketball when I get older,” he said. “I feel college will lead me in that right step, and especially getting a free education too. That’s like one big thing I really want to do.”