‘Something special’: Why Dorman could end SC’s three-decade drought at Beach Ball Classic
Both P.J. Hall and Myles Tate and their families have been approached over the past few years by multiple basketball prep schools that were gauging their interest.
There was none from either player.
What they were building together at Dorman High School was too special to leave.
“I told them I didn’t want to because the Dorman program means so much to me. I didn’t even think about it,” Tate said.
The two seniors have helped coach Thomas Ryan construct not only the best team in South Carolina, but a program that can compete on a national level with the same prep schools that were attempting to recruit them.
Dorman (10-1) has won three straight S.C. Class 5A state titles and is ranked 16th in the MaxPreps national top 25 rankings as it competes this week in the 39th annual Beach Ball Classic at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
The Cavaliers have defeated Buchtel of Ohio and Whitney Young of Chicago, which features Duke signee D.J. Steward, to reach Monday night’s semifinals.
Hall is a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward with an inside-outside game and soft shot who has signed with Clemson, and Tate is a skilled and speedy 6-foot, 165-pound ball-handler and shooter who has signed with Butler.
“I think these two guys are the face of our program,” Ryan said. “You have guys like P.J. and Myles that come through that are not only great basketball players but are perfect examples of what you want in a player and person because they’re selfless. It’s not about them, it’s about our program.
“. . . With these guys’ leadership and determination we’ve been able to get over the top.”
Dorman defeated Greensboro Day of Greensboro, N.C. 56-52 Monday in the Chick-fil-A Classic’s American Division championship game at Richland Northeast High in Columbia. Hall was the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and Tate was the Most Valuable Player.
In the Bojangles’ Bash earlier this month, the Cavaliers claimed a 70-54 win over Huntington Prep of West Virginia, which was ranked fifth in the USA Today Super 25 at the time, and their only loss is to perennial national prep power Oak Hill Academy of Virginia on Dec. 12 in a tournament in Rock Hill.
“When we were in eighth or ninth grade we kind of knew we had something special,” Hall said. “There’s something in the water. I mean we really just came up and all the pieces just fell into Dorman. It was perfect.”
Hall and Tate have played together since their youth and were part of the earliest years of the developmental league instituted by Ryan beginning with fifth-grade students and continuing into high school.
Through the developmental program, Ryan’s high school system is put into place in the younger grades and he gets to know players and their families while evaluating their talent as they go into the three middle schools that feed Dorman High. There are about 150 fifth- and sixth-graders playing this year.
“The Lord has definitely blessed me at Dorman, there’s no doubt about it,” said Ryan, a former USC Aiken player who is in his 13th season at Dorman and has assembled a large and knowledgeable coaching staff.
Hall and Tate have led the current wave of players with their character and leadership as well as their play.
“These are special kids and it starts from their families. They have great families,” Ryan said. “But also their maturity is through the roof and they’ve got goals and they’re very focused, and the big thing is it’s tough to find high school kids that understand winning games is not done on game day, it’s done previous.
“. . . They want to get better every day and so that carries throughout the rest of our program. Our ninth grade and JV guys, backups and other starters see what they do and it has transformed our program.”
Dorman had never won a state boys basketball title prior to the current three-year run, though it finished as the Class 4A state runner-up in 1983, ’86 and ’94.
Dorman basketball formerly featured players including J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, a wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles, current Western Carolina senior forward Carlos Dotson and Colorado State senior quarterback Collin Hill, who is joining South Carolina as a graduate transfer.
“There were teams before us that were really talented and were state championship[-caliber] teams, they had pieces to win state championships it just never really lined up,” said Hall, who is in his third season on the varsity team.
Tate was on the first state championship team in 2017 as a freshman with his older brother, Chandler, who was a senior. “That was real fun,” Tate said. “The energy I brought off the bench would translate to him because we had been playing together so long in high school it was easy to play with him because I knew where he was going to be on the court and he knew where I was going to be.”
Hall has averaged approximately 14 points and 9 rebounds in the past two seasons, while Tate has averaged about 16 points and 5.5 assists.
Dorman has some additional talent that could continue the program’s state dominance.
Senior 6-6 wing Justin Amadi is athletic and strong and can finish through contact, and has offers from Presbyterian, S.C. State, USC Upstate and other state schools, with more offers likely. Junior Jalen Breazeale is a quick 5-11 point guard, and 6-5 junior forward Earl Burgess III has an offer from USC Upstate.
Hall said Kansas scouted sophomores Noah Clowney (6-9) and Jordyn Surratt (6-5) at a recent game.
The depth of the team was evident in a 72-45 drubbing of Buchtel on Thursday, when Tate and Hall combined for just 12 points.
“We definitely have something special going out, but I know it’s not going to stop,” Tate said. “It’s going to continue because we have talent coming in with the younger guys and guys who are here now.”
Hall committed to Clemson and coach Brad Brownell in October. “It felt like a family environment and it was close to home and I could stay near family,” he said. “I know I’ll have a really good chance to thrive in their offense the way they use their big men, and I just fell in love with the campus. . . . I’m all for Clemson, everything about it.”
Hall’s sister, “a legend in Spartanburg” as the Gatorade High School Volleyball Player of the Year, is a sophomore at Florida, which was one of his college finalists, along with Virginia Tech. “Every time I went down there [to Gainesville, Florida] God made it more clear to me that’s not where I needed to be,” Hall said.
Tate chose Butler in Indianapolis over South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, College of Charleston, Appalachian State and Murray State, and he’s ready to experience the Midwest and the Bulldogs’ raucous Hinkle Fieldhouse.
“I had a long talk with my family and I had to talk to God and my coaches about my decision,” Tate said. “Butler’s a great decision for me because it felt like a family to me and I felt the love. When I went to campus the coaching staff and team brought me in like I would fit in like I fit in at Dorman, and I’ll have a great education there as well.
“It’s a basketball city and Indiana is a great spot just to live. I think I’ll get used to it.”
The duo is trying to help Dorman become the first South Carolina team to win the Beach Ball since Eau Claire in 1986 and add that to their resume.
“It would be really cool. This is a nationally-recognized tournament. It’s historic,” Hall said. “If we won it would be really special.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 5:33 PM.
