As Allan Hancock College’s men’s basketball team turns its attention toward the Western State Conference North league schedule, the Bulldogs’ big forward Taylor Pruett continues to turn heads.
Coming off a championship win in the recent Holiday Classic tournament, which Hancock hosted, the 6-foot-8 sophomore took home the tourney’s co-MVP honors, averaging 16 points and more than 12 rebounds.
Hancock’s head coach Ralph Gorton called Pruett a “great kid to coach” and a smart defender with a high basketball IQ.
“Taylor’s a great player. He’s very fundamental in many ways,” Gorton said. “He can shoot a jump shot and rebounds well. He’s got great footwork from being a ranked tennis player growing up.”
An outside scorer and tenacious rebounder, Pruett scored eight points and had two steals and one block as the Bulldogs beat Cuesta College 70-69 in the tournament’s championship game. As of press time, Pruett, who played his high school ball at Arroyo Grande High, was third on the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game and was leading the state with 10.7 rebounds per contest.
Pruett returned to the Bulldogs this season after a hip injury put him on the sidelines for the past three seasons. After going to school in Fullerton, he decided to go for a basketball scholarship at Hancock, where he’s continuing to persevere through the injury.
“I’m still seeing doctors about it, but I’ve just gotten cortisone shots to numb it,” he said. “I’m just getting it worked on all the time, trying to prevent the pain so I’m able to play.”
The Bulldogs are certainly glad he’s back. The tournament win brought Hancock to 13-4 going into league play, with Pruett a key component of the Bulldogs’ core trio—also including guard Jordan O’Byrne and Holiday Classic co-MVP Abe Millsap.
“Everybody has the common goal of winning, so it’s all coming together,” Pruett said. “We just want to keep building on [our start] and try to win another league title and hopefully a state title.”
This article appears in Jan 5-12, 2012.