Ocracoke Athlete Earns All-District Honors
Andrew is 16 years old and a junior at Ocracoke School, where he he’s been a student since Kindergarten. His parents are Beaver Tillett and Leslie Lanier, and he has one brother, 8th grader Kyle Tillett.
This was Andrew’s third season playing basketball. He’s earned other honors this season – he was on the Nick Brantley tournament's all-tournament team, he was the Bethel tournament’s MVP, and he made the “first team” rank of the Tideland Conference.
A panel of 18 coaches graded the district’s top players on a point system, and chose ten players to represent the all-district teams.
District 1 includes schools of all sizes (Ocracoke is the smallest) in Hyde, Dare, Tyrell, Washington and Hertford counties.
During the regular basketball season, Andrew helped the Dolphins make it to the Tideland Conference tournament finals – another first in Ocracoke history. They beat every team in the conference at least once.
“Andrew’s is the type of young man who has a very strong basketball IQ,” says his coach David Allewalt. “He’s dedicated and hardworking, and always strives to get better each and every day.”
Andrew’s smart off the court as well, with a 4.2 GPA to prove it.
“He’s the kind of kid you love having in school – he’s smart, he works hard and he brings a lot of intensity to everything he does,” says Ocracoke School’s high school English teacher Charles Temple.
Coach Dave agrees.
“Andrew’s really been a joy to coach. He never misses practice and always works hard. He’s also got a good nose for basketball."
Plus, he’s humble.
“I’m pretty good in the post, I guess,” Andrew said, somewhat reluctantly, when I asked him to comment for this article.
Pretend I don’t know anything about basketball, I told him. What does that even mean?
“I put the ball back when people miss,” he explained. “And I’m pretty good at rebounding.”
That’s an understatement. Andrew will go into his senior year with a total of 800 rebounds on the books so far.
“He already has 800 points, too,” said Coach Dave. “So he could be our first Ocracoke athlete with 1000 points and 1000 rebounds in their high school career.” (Ocracoke graduate Echo Bennink, class of 2012, scored over 1000 points in her four years as a Lady Dolphin.)
Andrew's choice of facial hair gave the fans another rallying cry. In addition to "Fear the Pod," there were also posters warning opponents to "Fear the Beard."
With basketball season over, what’s a boy like Andrew to do? Well, there’s always drop-in basketball at the gym a couple of nights a week. And, luckily, Andrew has a few other interests. He also likes to read, hunt, surf, and play video games. Having known him all his life, I can tell you that he’s a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about the Wright Brothers, black holes, and WWII. And he likes pound cake.
Andrew acted in the school/community productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, We Must Kill Toni, and Macbeth. He’s a member of the high school Beta Club and a former Ocracoke Boy Scout. He’s well known for his collection of funny t-shirts. My favorite: “National Sarcasm Society: Like we need your support.”
Andrew will spend 5 weeks this summer attending the North Carolina Governor’s School on the campus of Meredith College in Raleigh. He’ll be studying Natural Science. When he’s home, he’ll work in his mom’s shop, Books to Be Red.
Other schools’ fine athletes have also earned the all-district honors. Player of the year in District 1 was Aaron Carver of Northeastern HS. The all-district teams for this year are:
1st team: Aaron Carver (Northeastern), Carl McCray (Plymouth), LaQuan Boston (South Creek), Adrian Moore (Plymouth), JaQwan Ruffin (Hertford)
2nd team: Andrew Tillett (Ocracoke), Rokeem Miller (Southside), Shaquille Joyner (Camden), Marquis Whidbee (Northeastern), and Barkim Moses (Northhampton.)
