City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Though Mikey Dixon averaged more than 20 ppg as a junior, it wasn’t until the end of the season that the Sanford School (Del.) student-athlete starting feeling that extra level of confidence.

The confidence to get his shot when he wanted, where he wanted; the knowledge that he could get the ball into the hoop almost at will.

And that’s when things really took off, culminating with a career-best 39 points in the regular season final against Delcastle.

He took that momentum right into the summer with the Diamond State Titans, gathered a few Division I offers, committed to Quinnipiac in the fall and kept right on going.

“The thing I can say is I got better with letting the game come to me,” the 6-foot-2 senior said. “Last year and the year before, I would panic…(this year) I just let it come to me.”

Dixon’s impressive senior season continued with 26 points in Sanford’s win over Lower Moreland in the Kobe Bryant Classic at Philly U on Saturday afternoon, showing his ability to score the ball like few around can.

It’s not just that he puts the ball through the hoop with impressive regularity, as he’s averaging more than 27 ppg over the course of his senior year. It’s that he’s doing it despite opposing defenses throwing everything they can at the Warriors to slow him down.

He’s just adapting quicker than they are.

“I’m starting to see more face-guards, help defense is there, teams are keying on me,” he said. “Obviously people know I can score so I’ve got to start getting more tricky, keeping the defense honest, keeping them off-balance, stuff like that.”

Dixon said he spent the summer working with his father on further improve his handle and scoring ability, adding several new tricks to his repertoire. He displayed a few of them against Lower Moreland: a slick, fake-behind-the-back move that resulted in an easy layup; a crossover that led to a spin move for another kiss off the glass.

Always a fairly strong creator and ball handler, he's now got the ball on a string like a Division I point guard, dribbling through traffic and trouble time and time again against a Lower Moreland defense geared to slowing him down.

Add that to what was already a strong perimeter shooting ability and foul-shooting ability, and there aren't many more complete scorers around.

“He’s got the mentality right now that he can score almost anytime he touches the ball, and that’s the mentality that you have to have,” Sanford coach Stan Waterman said.

Along with the increased offensive ability, Dixon showed off against Lower Moreland that he's becoming a more explosive athlete as well. Three separate slams in the third and fourth quarter of the win all drew reactions from the crowd, and a near-miss on a tip-dunk late in the game would have brought the house down.

"Over the summer I went to a little training facility, and worked on my explosiveness--not too much, but it’s getting better," he said. "Calf raises, squats, running up stairs in the park, stuff like that.”

Something happened in the offseason as well to help Dixon take the next step. Eric Ayala, who averaged 14.7 ppg last year as a sophomore, decided to go to prep school at Putnam Science Academy (Conn.) and repeat his sophomore season, leaving Dixon needing to shoulder an even bigger offensive load.

“When Eric left he started thinking about points and where they’re going to come from, and how do you help the team, and obviously we knew he had to score some more,” Waterman said. “And I don’t think he had a problem with that--you don’t have a problem telling kids to take a few more shots.”

While Dixon and the rest of the Warriors have high hopes for this season--a Delaware state championship is not out of the question for Sanford, now 8-2 after the win--the future looks bright for the program as well.

Eighth grader Jyare Davis, a 6-4 wing guard, is already seeing major minutes at the varsity level. It's no coincidence that Waterman brought him up to the level a year early with a Division I player to learn from before he takes the reigns next year.

"We always talk about it being a process, and (Davis is) at that point now where (when) Mikey leaves, he’s probably going to be our primary scorer," Waterman said. "Hopefully he’ll learn and going against Mikey every day is going to help him be ready for that.”

At Quinnipiac this fall, Dixon will slot into a Bobcats backcourt that currently features Giovanni McLean, the team's leading scorer (15.1 ppg), but it's unclear whether McLean will be granted an extra year of eligibility for next season.

Other than McLean, junior guard Daniel Harris (9.7 ppg) is slated to return for head coach Tom Moore, as are sophomores Ayron Hutton (4.7 ppg) and Dimitri Floras (3.9 ppg) as well as sparsely-used freshmen twins Andrew and Aaron Robinson.

“(Moore) wants me to come in and be a full-time point guard, score when it’s there, make plays," Dixon said. "Pretty much what I’m doing here, but primarily at the ‘1’ because it’s the next level.”