He left home to pursue a dream. Now he’s back with a state title on his mind.
A story, in three parts:
Great basketball player grows up in a tight-knit community, watching its older sons put their town on the map.
Great basketball player helps lead tiny school to three straight state tournament appearances before his junior season.
Great basketball player leaves his small community and school to pursue other academic and athletic opportunities.
Frequently, that’s where script ends. Korbin Spencer wanted a coda.
Spencer, who averaged 22.3 points and shot 41.1 percent from behind the three-point line as a sophomore at Elliott County, transferred to Hargrave Military Academy for his junior season. He was close to Braxton Beverly — the former Perry County Central star who finished his prep career at Hargrave and now stars for N.C. State — and learned enough about what Hargrave had to offer that in May 2017 he decided to make the toughest decision of his young life: sacrifice all he knew in the pursuit of self improvement, on the court and away from it.
“He was pretty forthcoming with his thoughts in the spring before he went and it’s just one of those things, I told him to ‘think on it, pray on it, and do what he felt was best, but at the same time you can always come home,’” Elliott County Coach Greg Adkins said. “I know Korbin was kind of torn when he left. ...
“At the end of the day my advice to him was to be true to what’s in your heart. If you feel like this is where you’re truly led and what’s best for you, then you have our full support. Whatever happens through high school and life, I talk to our kids about trying to not have regrets. Let’s think things through and go directions we want to go, but at the same time, let’s not look back 20 years from now wishing that we’d done something different.”
Spencer, who’s committed to the University of Pikeville, remained torn during his year at Hargrave. He spent a chunk of his time in Chatham, Va., debating whether he should remain there for his senior season or return to Sandy Hook, where his dad, Matt, remained as an assistant coach on Adkins’ staff at Elliott County. Matt and Crystal, Spencer’s mother, got to attend about half of their son’s games last season, but something was still askew.
“It’s kind of hard to explain, the feeling that you have when you’re playing in front of your town and the people that love you,” Spencer said. “It’s a different feeling ‘cause you have those rivalry games and you’re playing with your best friends, and of course I missed that. It wasn’t necessarily going into Hargrave that I was coming back or I was staying there. I just wanted to take it day by day and figure out what was going to make me the happiest.”
Spencer’s heart led him back to Elliott County, in which he re-enrolled before last fall. He’s averaging 29.8 points per game — second in the state only to Frankfort Christian Academy’s Zachary Semones — and the Lions are 15-2 overall heading into All “A” Classic state tournament this week at Eastern Kentucky University.
He harbors no regrets about attending Hargrave. Spencer often got to practice against Trey McGowens, now a freshman who’s played in every game this season at Pittsburgh, and says his defense and athleticism have dramatically improved. The experience helped him learn more about how to “be a man,” too, he said.
Adkins concurred.
“He’s a year stronger, he’s a year more mature,” Adkins said. “I think he plays a little bit looser now. He’s back home and appreciates the things around him. I think he’s finding ways to enjoy every day.”
Bracket: 2019 Boys’ All “A” Classic state tournament
Having played with most of his teammates since he could dribble, there was little period of readjustment for Spencer on and off the court. There were some negative lobs thrown his way from rival programs, but overall he received a hero’s welcome.
“I think sometimes, which we haven’t had it here in Elliott County, if you had a kid that’s a standout player that moves in and isn’t really associated with the community, I could see those (jealousy) situations with those schools,” Adkins said. “But this one was different. Korbin grew up here, he’s been here his whole life.”
Elliott County, as of the most recent Cantrall Ratings, is favored to win the 16th Region this year. The Lions have qualified for the state tournament six times — three straight years from 2007-2009, when they became statewide darlings, and another three-peat from 2015-2017. Spencer and three of his teammates — fellow seniors Tanner Dickerson and Gage Evans along with junior Kole Whitley — could be the school’s first students to be part of four state tournament runs.
And if they’re fortunate enough to return to Rupp Arena?
“The senior class, all of us have grown up together and we’ve all played together. Every team that’s in the state, we’ve played ’em when we were in middle school and we’ve played’ em since we were younger and we’ve been right there with all of ‘em and we’ve beat ‘em all,” Spencer said. “We know what we’re capable of and everyone on our team is confident in each other’s ability to play. We’re a tough team and we’re hard for people to figure out how to guard us.
“We could be really successful in the state tournament if we make it.”
What a coda that would be.