Spotsylvania, Virginia. That’s where Justin Anderson lives. So I decided to go see him play high school basketball. He’s either wearing jersey number 23 or the green warm-up shirt in each photo in this article. Okay, so he plays for a private high school in Maryland. And okay, so I’ve never reported on an out-of-state high school basketball game. But Justin Anderson is such a highly-ranked college basketball prospect, and he does live in Virginia, and he did play for Courtland High School of Spotsylvania, Virginia last year as an eighth-grader (when he played on the high school junior varsity team!), so I decided to scout him.

I drove from my house in Charlottesville, Virginia up to Rockville, Maryland to see Justin Anderson’s Montrose Christian School Mustangs play at home against KIMA (the Kamit Institute for Magnificent Achievers of Washington, D.C.).It was a 123-mile trip each way. As you can see from the photos on the left (Route 495 North) and right (Route 270 North), the weather on the highways in northern Virginia was cold and rainy. I left Charlottesville at 12:15 P.M. on Tuesday, January 6 (yesterday), and got to Culpeper, Virginia at 1:35 P.M. (I drove slow: what was the hurry? The game didn’t start until 7:30 P.M.) On the way, I listened to radio station 840AM out of Charlottesville, and the Jerry Miller Sportsrap show. I lost touch with it around 2:00 P.M. at the Route 66 West turn off which went toward Winchester, VA, but I was going to go farther north toward the Route 66 East road, which went east toward Washington, D.C.

At 2:10 P.M. I stopped at my third gas station/convenience store of the day.The hoopscooponline.com ranks Justin Anderson as the tenth-best high school freshman in the nation! (He’s a member of the Class of 2012). Justin Anderson was a student at Spotsylvania Middle School last year as an eighth-grader, although he played for Courtland High’s junior varsity. At 2:20 P.M. I was in Gainesville, VA. At 2:30 P.M. I got to Route 66 East. Finally, at 3:05 P.M., I crossed the Maryland state line. Montrose Christian School has one of the nation’s top 5 high school basketball programs year-in and year-out. They are located in Rockville, Maryland, which is northwest of Washington, D.C. At 3:15 P.M. I arrived in Rockville, and at 3:35 P.M. I got to Montrose Christian School! I make sure I get to any high school before it gets dark. It’s almost impossible to find a school in the dark with cars around you driving 70 miles-per-hour while you try to read Mapquest. So the junior varsity game wasn’t going to start until 6 P.M. though. I went to Boston Market (the restaurant) In the most recent edition of USAToday.com, Montrose Christian was ranked number 11 in the nation among the country’s high schools. Justin Anderson is the only freshman on the team. Is transferring to a private high school a good idea? Not in my opinion. More on that later. The weather was horrible. It was just warm enough not to snow, the sky was white, and the rain was icy. After I ate I went to the junior varsity game in the tiny gym. Montrose Christian won. The JV game ended at 7:23 P.M. and the varsity game started at 7:52 P.M.Justin Anderson played little. At the 3:16 mark of the first period he got in, with Montrose Christian leading 17-10. He immediately made a nice assist from the wing. Then, at the 1:14 point of the same period, he committed a foul.

I was reminded constantly throughout the game of former University of Virginia coach Terry Holland, who once said that players regress when they sit on the bench. Justin Anderson is an amazing athlete, but he’d be better off playing for a coach who’d let him bring the ball up the court all of the time. Justin Anderson got a rebound. He later got the ball and was called for traveling. The first period ended with Montrose Christian ahead 21-13. He sat on the bench for almost the entire second period, finally getting in at the 0:38 mark. His team led 31-21 at the half. The second half started. At 8:50 P.M. there was a leak in the ceiling. The game was halted for 30 minutes with Montrose ahead by 15 points. A Montrose employee was raised up near the ceiling, where he attached a bucket to catch the falling water, and the game continued. At the 1:20 mark of the third quarter, Justin Anderson entered the game and committed his second foul with 0:26 seconds to go. His team led 47-28 after three periods.

He re-entered the game in the last period, blocked a shot, and quickly scored on a layup. Then he left at the 7:02 mark and didn’t get any more playing time. His team won 63-47. I left immediately. At 11:50 P.M. I stopped at East Coast gas and bought three bags of Potato Chips. I reached Culpeper on 29 South at 12:10 A.M. At 12:45 A.M. I was in Madison, VA. At 1:10 A.M. I was back at home in Charlottesville. Then, I started to type what you’re reading right…………….now.

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