Pullman forward Jared Anderson reaching his potential

Jared Anderson found himself in a precarious situation during Pullman's season opener this year. The Greyhounds had the entire year ahead of them, and yet Anderson was already putting pressure on himself.

"I missed my first shot of this season against Lewiston and I was like 'Oh, this isn't going to be good,' " Anderson said.

The junior had spent the summer working on his shot and building up his confidence, and in one quick sequence all of that was in danger of being washed away. But Anderson decided to keep shooting, and by the end of the game he had scored 13 points. It was the beginning to what has been a remarkable season.

Anderson has gone from a role player last season to the leading in scorer in several of Pullman's games this year. The transformation has been incredible to watch for PHS fans, but for teammates and coaches, this was a long time coming.

"He plays basketball all year round and I think he changes his game a lot. Last year he kind of fell into the sophomore slump - you see that from some players - but I knew that he was going to be a phenomenal basketball player," Pullman senior Will Pitzer said. "He's shown it a lot over the summer just by making some big shots during our summer games and attacking the hole pretty strong."

As a sophomore, Anderson played timid. Pullman coach Craig Brantner said he was playing as if he didn't want to make a mistake, which ironically made him do just that. Anderson was struggling to find his shot, which brought down his playing time and further affected his confidence.

"It can be a vicious cycle. About three-fourths of the way (through the season) I worked a lot with him on his shot last year. (He was) just shooting with such low trajectory it was either in or it rattled, so we worked on getting a little bit more air under his shot," Brantner said. "By the end of the year he was shooting the ball really well and he had a good summer. He went out in the summertime and was scoring a lot of points."

From that point on, Anderson's confidence began to grow, and it became noticeable to everybody on the team.

"He seems more mature this year and he's a great basketball player - you can't take that away from him - but for sure he's carrying himself with more pride," Pitzer said. "I think he knows that he's one of the best players on the court every night and he's going to play like that."

After that opener against Lewiston, Anderson followed it up by leading his team with 17 points against Moscow. Three games later he was leading the Greyhounds in scoring yet again as they swept the Bears and improved to 5-0. Midway through the year he scored 21 points against East Valley, and in the team's most recent game, he led the way with 15 points as Pullman clinched a spot in tonight's 6 p.m. district title against Clarkston.

"I just calmed down this year," Anderson said. "I just waited for my time because last year Micah (Lagerquist) was the big scorer so I just waited for my time and I showed out and improved."

Brantner said Anderson is excelling on both ends of the floor, as evidenced by Pullman's 51-44 win over Cheney in the district semifinals. That set up a rematch with rival Clarkston, which beat Pullman twice during the regular season. But the Greyhounds did win the most recent matchup 68-66, and if they win tonight they might unseat the Bantams as the favorites to win the state title.

"That would be awesome," Anderson said about winning the district title. "That was a fun game last time we played them so that would be a big deal."

Tom Hager can be reached at (208) 883-4633 or by email to thager@dnews.com.