PLEASANT HILL – One could say that Pleasant Hill senior Landen Melvin has a flair for the dramatic.
Or, that he’s incredibly clutch.
More evidence came last Friday against the La Pine Hawks in the Billies’ home gym for Senior Night. Late in the game Melvin jumped into the passing lane, intercepted an opponent’s pass, and saw open court ahead. He measured his steps and rose up to emphatically dunk the ball with his right hand for an exclamation point on the Billies’ 80-49 victory.
The late-game highlight would rate highly on the “cool” scale, but doesn’t hold a candle to some of the other heroics the 6-foot-1 guard has had in recent weeks. Late in a close game against Harrisburg, Melvin noticed that the Eagles defenders were playing overly aggressive.
“I just looked at my point guard, Noah (Johnson), and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m just gonna go backdoor.’ So I set (my defender) up in the corner, and slipped backdoor. He made a beautiful pass to me, and I was able to just jump up over the guy and lay it up,” Melvin said. That layup, with less than 10 seconds remaining, sealed a 54-52 victory for the Billies.
Exactly a week later, the Billies were down 51-50 to Sisters and in danger of losing their undefeated league record. Melvin came off a screen and was driving to his left. He took one dribble and jumped into the body of the Outlaw defender. Melvin was able to get sufficient elevation to score over the defender to give his team a one-point lead with eight seconds left. The Billies’ defense held on for the win. For Melvin, there was never any question who was going to take the last shot.
“I was thinking, ‘I’m going to get to the rack here.’ I have to get a good shot up, and either get fouled or finish it at the rim,” he said.
Melvin’s calm demeanor in those situations allowed head coach Luke Jackson to have confidence that the Billies would get a good shot by making a play in the flow of the offense rather than having to take a timeout, draw something up and allow the defense to make a plan.
Stepping up
Being the focal point may be familiar for Melvin now, but it hasn’t always been the case. Gavin Inglish, who was first team all-state and graduated last year, was the Billies’ primary option in previous seasons.
“At times last year, (Landen) played Robin to Gavin Inglish’s Batman. And this year, he’s done whatever we’ve asked him to do. Sometimes other teams will key on him, and he’s a willing passer and he gets other guys involved,” Jackson said. “He’s definitely, to me, the best player in the league. And I think our record reflects that because I’m not sure that, after coming off of the season that we had, that people thought that we would be in the position that we’re in now, and a lot of that’s because of Landen.”
Off the floor, his growth has been just as significant. “Landen is just a great kid. He’s high character. He’s a good leader. He has a smile on his face every single day, he’s a 4.0 (GPA) student and totally accountable off the floor,” Jackson said.
Having a player and a person like Melvin is a key reason for Jackson’s 44-4 overall and 18-0 league record in two seasons coaching the Billies. Friday’s Senior Night was one of the last times Melvin will step on the court for the Billies, and he felt the emotions.
“It was crazy. I’ve been playing with these guys since first grade, so it’s just really surreal,” Melvin said.
This year is particularly unique, because not only does Landen get to play with his best friend Jacob Neely and younger brother Logan, but he’s also playing with his youngest brother Luke for the first time. Luke has been taking advantage of a larger role in recent games, including showing up big in the win over rival Creswell when Landen was out sick. “I just told him, ‘Shoot it when you’re open, buddy,’ because I know how good of a shooter and how good of a player he is,” Landen said. “I was super excited. I was yelling at my TV at home when he was making those shots.”
The chemistry that the three Melvins and Neely have is obvious, and comes from being almost inseparable off the court.
“We go fishing and hunting together all the time,” Landen said. “We’re always outside, hanging out, and being able to bring it on the basketball court now has just been pretty amazing.”
Bright future
With the end of Landen’s senior year also comes the question of what the next step will be.
Landen has received interest from many schools, but right now his focus is on George Fox, Bushnell, Linfield, and Whitworth universities. Landen’s father and two uncles all played basketball at George Fox, and his father played soccer there as well. Jackson coached at Bushnell for five seasons, so Landen has plenty of connections. Another factor is finding a football program for Neely. The two have made it a goal to play college sports at the same school.
Landen said he appreciates his coach’s experience. A former Top 10 NBA draft pick and five-year veteran in the league, before playing internationally, Jackson also was successful as a coach. He led Bushnell to two conference titles.
Jackson’s philosophy emphasizes spacing the floor with perimeter shooting and getting out in transition. That is especially true with the personnel he has this year. Jackson’s offense allows his players significant freedom to make reads and decisions based on the looks the defense gives them. This level of trust and freedom is unusual for players at the high school level, but prepares them perfectly for higher levels.
“It’s not a super set thing,” Landen said. “We’re able to come off screens or set off-ball screens and fly off and make reads and decisions, either to come to the ball for a three (pointer), slip back door, or we’re picking and popping or picking and rolling. We have so many different reads and options out of our motion offense which gives us a lot of freedom and I feel like that’s hard to guard.”
Landen said he learned a lot about flow and spacing from playing soccer. He scored his first 11 points against La Pine mostly in transition, where he was able to see how to create space for himself and set up others for success.
“It honestly translates really well on fast breaks. Making those runs, seeing open lanes, throwing bounce passes to people when they’re cutting,” he said of his soccer experience.
The most important game of the Billies season thus far looms with the rematch against Creswell on Friday. Landen doesn’t expect to miss this matchup. And if the game is close at the end, all eyes will turn to No. 4 – and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
