WNC Rising Senior: Tanner Dillingham (2017)
McDowell High School in Marion, North Carolina is a Mecca for basketball in the mountains of Western North Carolina. A town with a population just under 8,000 people has produced quite a number of professional athletes and basketball stars. Roy…
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Continue ReadingMcDowell High School in Marion, North Carolina is a Mecca for basketball in the mountains of Western North Carolina. A town with a population just under 8,000 people has produced quite a number of professional athletes and basketball stars.
Roy Williams was born in Marion before he moved to Asheville where he would embark on a Hall of Fame career as the head coach at Kansas University and The University of North Carolina.
In the mid-1980’s 6-foot-10 center Marty Hensley was an All-State selection at McDowell High School. He would go on to play for legendary head coach Dean Smith at The University of North Carolina.
In the 1990’s Jenis Grindstaff was named the 1997 North Carolina Mr. Basketball out of McDowell High School by averaging 27 points and 6.7 rebounds. He signed to play at Virginia Tech and would finish his career at The University of Tennessee.
Puerto Rican exchange student Orlando Melendez would team with Grindstaff at McDowell High School and advance to the sectional finals their senior year. Melendez would receive a basketball scholarship to North Carolina his senior season. He would go on to play professionally overseas and with The Harlem Globetrotters.
Reakwon Miller set the school record for points in a game with 48 in a five-overtime first round playoff game against Ragsdale High School. Miller was an AP All-State honors and played in the East-West All-Star Game. He would become a member of the UNC-Asheville basketball team the following year that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season.
Rising senior Tanner Dillingham, a 6-foot-7 center is on his way to becoming another name that is associated with other Titan greats.
Dillingham led The Titans last season in scoring by averaging a team-high 17.6 points and 6.6 rebounds. He was an All-MAC pick shooting 55 percent from the field, 78 percent from the free-throw line and 40 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Dillingham is long, can score out to the 3-point line, has the height to score over smaller players, has a great feel for the game, and can rebound from both ends of the floor. He was one of only eight underclassmen named to The Asheville Citizen-Times All-WNC Basketball Team this past season.
McDowell finished 15-11 last season and lost in the first round of the NCHSAA playoffs.
The future is bright for Dillingham, as he will look to lead The Titans back to the playoffs again this season. Colleges looking for a skilled wing that can rebound the ball and step out to shoot it from behind the arc should be all over Tanner. He would be most effective at the Low-Major Division One or Division Two level.