NEAH BAY — Ryan Moss opened the Class 1B state tournament with 41 points in Neah Bay’s 72-63 victory over Taholah.
He made 13 of 24 shots from field, including 5 of 13 from 3-point range, and made 10 of 10 at the free-throw line.
“It was pretty fun,” Moss said.
“When I’m like that, I just know I got to keep shooting.”
The 41 points surpassed the Moss sibling scoring record set by older sister Cierra, who put up 40 on Taholah during the 2014 state tournament.
But Moss said the only thing that was most important to him was the win that those 41 points helped the Red Devils claim.
“I honestly never cared about that kind stuff,” Moss said of stats and family records.
“I only care about winning.”
Two more wins in the next two days clinched the first basketball state championship in school history.
Moss, a senior, played a big role in that state title, which had in the past eluded his parents and siblings, and has been voted All-Peninsula Boys Basketball MVP.
He is the third member of his family to be voted All-Peninsula basketball MVP, joining older brother Robert, the 2010 boys MVP, and Cierra, the 2014 girls co-MVP.
“I honestly didn’t want to have a game like that because I wanted to our team to be ready for the other games that we had to play,” Ryan Moss said of his 41-point game.
His career night, though, did help the Red Devils get ready for the other games — or, at least, it made getting ready easier.
Moss led the Class 1B state champions in scoring this season with an 18.8 points per game average. In eight postseason games, he averaged 24.5 points.
After his 41-point game, he was averaging 29 points in six postseason game. If teams weren’t aware of Moss, they certainly were following the Taholah win.
Moss noticed Sunnyside Christian in the semifinals and Almira/Coulee-Hartline in the championship game were sending double- and triple-teams his way.
“They kind of focused their defense on me,” he said. “That left a lot of holes in their defense.”
Moss scored nine points in the win over Sunnyside and 15 in the title game.
“Ryan, he’s a team player,” Neah Bay coach Stan Claplanhoo, who picked Moss as the team’s season MVP, said.
“In the championship game, he had 15 points. I’ve watched the film a couple times. I’m impressed with how well Ryan and the other kids shared the ball.
“It was a team effort. Ryan . . . just had 41 points [a few days earlier], but he took his role and opened it up for the other guys, and that’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Moss was more than just a scorer for the Red Devils. He also averaged 4.9 rebounds, 3.3 assist and 2.6 steals.
The stats for his senior year are in line with his career averages: 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.2 steals.
He was a four-year varsity player for Neah Bay and averaged double figures each season.
Because of that experience, Claplanhoo said that the other players looked up to Moss.
And Moss realized his role on the 2015-16 Red Devils would be different than the previous three seasons.
“I had to be more of a leader than other years,” Moss said, “because I didn’t really think about it [before], we always had Abe [Venske], Dane [Josiah Greene], or John [Reamer].
“I guess I had to take over that. I just kind of did what I had to do.”
As a four-year player, Moss experienced the golden era of Neah Bay basketball. Or, rather, until this season, the nearly-gold era of Neah Bay basketball.
During his career, the Red Devils played in three state title games (2013, 2015 and 2016) and placed third in 2014.
It was unprecedented state success for Neah Bay, but each season ended with the heartbreak that comes from being a great team that isn’t quite good enough.
Until this past season, when the Red Devils were perhaps bigger underdogs than they had been in Moss’ tenure.
But they finally beat Sunnyside Christian, which had become a state-tournament nemesis, 61-58 in the semifinals, and then routed overwhelming season-long state-title favorite Almira/Coulee-Hartline 73-48 to claim the championship.
“It was just a great feeling, especially since that first year I thought we were going to win, and the next year I thought we were going to come back and win it,” Moss said.
“It just kept not happening. Until we finally did it this year.”
Moss, the Neah Bay Class of 2016 salutatorian, will continue his education at North Seattle College. He hasn’t yet decided what to study and doesn’t yet know if he will play basketball there.
“If I was given the opportunity, I probably would,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Sidebar updated to include honorable mention
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
