news-record.com

One by one, Josh Pittman's opponents were left shaking their heads this season, wondering how this 6-foot-nothing, 140-pound guard could leave so many defenders in his wake.

The Trinity junior would dart around the court like a waterbug and unleash shots that defied physics, the kind that get you knocked out of a H-O-R-S-E game.

"He'll get a shot off and you're like, 'Wow, how'd he get that shot off?' " Trinity coach Tim Kelly said. "He did some things that even we hadn't seen -- running one-handers, stuff off the glass. It's not luck. He practices that stuff."

"People say I'm forcing it," said Pittman, a near-unanimous selection for News & Record player of the year, "but it's not really forcing when you do it time after time."

Pittman, the only non-senior in Trinity's starting lineup, averaged a team-high 25 points a game and led the Bulldogs to within a basket of the state championship, forging many memorable moments along the way.

There was the game against Asheboro when Pittman played despite missing the previous two days of practice with strep throat. He was so weak during the game he dropped to his knees during timeouts to catch his breath.

There was the game against Glenn in the state semifinals that Pittman almost singlehandedly won with 31 points, including a 16-for-16 performance from the free-throw line. He was named regional most valuable player.

"Josh Pittman," Glenn coach Lee Reavis said afterward, "is no ordinary person."

And then there was the 3-A title game against Kinston when Pittman helped Trinity rally from a 13-0 deficit before falling by two points.

Pittman led all scorers with 23 points and was voted MVP of the game, but he was inconsolable afterward.

"Oh, it hurt," Pittman said, "just looking in each other's eyes and knowing that we gave it our all, even though we came up short."

That hasn't happened often the past three years, during which Pittman has started every varsity game for Trinity. The Bulldogs finished 30-2 this season, and they've lost only one home game since Pittman came on board.

That's probably because he never takes a day off. The last time he went 24 hours without picking up a basketball?

"Dude, that's hard," he said. "When I'm hurt, I still dribble. If it's raining, I'll find a gym, or I'll go home and watch basketball on TV with a basketball in my hands. I always have one."

The summer before his eighth-grade season, Pittman signed up to take part in Trinity's summer camp. Before one game, Kelly asked him to play with the varsity high schoolers.

"I thought he was joking at first," Pittman said. "I was looking around like, 'Man, is this really happening?'"

Pittman, not even a teenager yet and "maybe 5 feet tall," ended up hitting the game-winning free throw.

"Even at that young age," Kelly said, "we knew he was the best point guard in our program."

"Since then," Pittman said, "I've never been scared. I know that I can play at this level."