BY MARK JAFFEE
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
At just 6-feet tall, Woodland High junior forward Mickey Meier is not your team’s typical leading rebounder.
But Meier is actually leading the Hawks’ boys basketball team by averaging 10.5 rebounds per game through fives games to go with 10.4 points per game.
In Woodland’s 55-50 win over Watertown on Wednesday, its third victory in a row, Meier had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Earlier this year, he recorded a season-high 14 rebounds against Seymour.
Proving his versatility, Meier played point guard as a sophomore.
“Mickey is the ultimate lunchpail type of player,” said Woodland head coach Tom Hunt. “He does everything and anything we ask to the best of his abilities and been the glue to hold everything together. He does all of the yeoman’s work. He changes positions without saying boo and just gets the job done.”
Hunt has convinced his players to not get caught up in playing what he called the basketball number’s game — 5 (center), 4 (power forward), 3 (small forward), 2 (shooting guard) or 1 (point guard).
“Kids need to just make plays and not get caught up in what position they play,” said Hunt. “When I played, and to this day, my dad (also Tom) would bring up that Paul Silas (ex-Boston Celtics’ great rebounder) would say that 90 percent of rebounds were made below the rim. Silas always understood positioning and put himself in a good situation to rebound the ball. You need to be in the right spot and react. That’s what Mickey does.”
A Prospect resident, Meier attended St. John’s Evangelist School in Watertown before attending Holy Cross as a freshman.
He transferred to Woodland for his sophomore year.
