Three senior basketball players at Oak Grove High School will continue their careers at the next level. Alesha Temple is taking her talents to Pearl River Community College, and Tate Ryder and Brandon Tilley are both headed to East Central Community College. The trio made it official by signing with their respective schools on Wednesday.
Temple was unable to play her senior season at Oak Grove after tearing her ACL in the summer of 2018. The 6-foot-1 post player averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds per game her junior year for the Lady Warriors, who made it all the way to the Class 6A semifinals in Jackson.
“I felt like, after last year, we might go farther this year,” she said. “Then, when [Jazmin Grayson] left and I tore my ACL, things went downhill from there and it didn’t escalate up.”
Pearl River offered Temple a scholarship prior to her ACL injury and the three surgeries that followed. She feared the program, as well as several others, would eventually pull the offer, but the Lady Wildcats never wavered from their position of wanting Temple.
“It meant they were passionate about me going there,” she said. “When I went there and visited, it felt like home, so I was like, ‘Maybe this is the place I wanna go’, and now it is.”
In terms of her recovery, Temple says she’s at 75 percent and expects to be at 100 by August.
“I’m jumping boxes and running on the treadmill. Now I just need to get the muscle back in my legs.”
Temple is staying close to home, whereas Ryder and Tilley are headed about two hours north to Decatur. Tilley moved to Oak Grove from Pensacola, Florida three years ago, and since then, he and Ryder have formed a special connection on the court. Together, the backcourt duo averaged 21 points per game this past season as the Warriors won 25 games, captured a district title and reached the third round of the 6A playoffs.
“Last summer, we played on the same AAU basketball team, so that helped a lot,” Ryder said. “Tilley rode with me to every single tournament. We bonded the whole time because it was like we were together the whole summer. We just know how each other plays and feed off each other.
“Tilley’s a great kid and the funniest person I know, so I’m excited to play with him again.”
Ryder played varsity at Oak Grove for four years. He went from role player and spot-up shooter his freshman and sophomore seasons to the player he is today, a versatile combo guard.
“Now I can handle the ball the whole game,” Ryder said. “I’m just more athletic and able to do more things other than just shoot.”
Ryder’s recruitment began to heat up after his junior season in 2017-2018. A handful of junior colleges and four-year schools were hot on his tail. That, coupled with deciding on whether or not to pursue baseball instead, made the whole process a whirlwind. In the end, he chose what he called the “best opportunity” for him.
“I feel like I really fit with Coach [Robert] Thompson. He’s a good coach and a great guy.”
After visiting with Thompson on Tuesday, Ryder was sold on going to East Central, who offered him a scholarship in March. Tilley, on the other hand, was offered the same opportunity just two days ago. The other junior colleges who recruited him were only interested in him walking on to their program.
“I like being the underdog,” Tilley said. “That’s how we are at Oak Grove. Underdogs, they just work hard every day.”
In his first year at Oak Grove, Tilley, a sophomore at the time, played junior varsity for the Warriors. Considering he played varsity at his previous school, that first year was an adjustment.
“I thought I was good,” Tilley joked. “Coach [LaRon] Brumfield would be yelling at me, and I was just like, ‘He don’t know what he’s talking about’. After a while, looking back, I see how I was, and I learned a lot from him. I improved a lot.”
Tilley moved up to varsity his junior season and became a key role player for the Warriors. A year later, he was one of their go-to shooters. Like Ryder, the shooting guard averaged double digit points per game as a senior. Tilley had 11 in Oak Grove’s 72-69 win over Meridian for the Region 5-6A championship, and East Central’s coaches happened to be in attendance.
“That’s when they first saw me,” he said. “They talked to us, and then I came up there for sort of a tryout. I played with the team to see how I played with them, and I did pretty good.
“That’s the first school that really saw something in me.”
Like Ryder, Tilley expects to have an opportunity to play early at East Central.
“They told me my role is to be a shooter,” he said. “If I’m not shooting well, I’ll come sit on the bench. If I am, hey, I’m gonna be playing.”
