Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Ryan Bryant is a 6-foot-3 shooting guard. He stood even taller at the Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase.

A member of the Ironton Fighting Tigers’ eighth grade team, Bryant was part of the Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase was held the weekend of March 7-8 in Columbus and caught the attention of Showcase officials as well as observers.

Buckeye Prep offered an impressive evaluation.

It said Bryant is not a “big” but “he is big andhandles the ball as well as many of the smaller guards we have seen. He has great footwork and his ability to pass the ball at his size separated him from other shooting guards on Saturday.”

His performance at the showcase earned him a Top Five Player out of the nearly 300 best basketball players invited to the showcase from the United States and Canada.

He caught the eye of officials of the top recruiting AAU team — King James Shooting Stars — and was invited to a tryout this Saturday.

The King James Shooting Stars is a team sponsored by LeBron James.

Bryant and his Fighting Tigers’ teammates went unbeaten in the seventh grade and this past season won the Ohio Valley Conference championship while losing only three games.