By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PEDRO — Blake Porter went from need to want.

Porter’s best path to college looked to be football. Although he liked football, his heart was really with basketball.

When an injury interrupted this football career, the Rock Hill Redmen senior fell back on basketball and the results earned him an offer from the Alice Lloyd College Eagles and he signed his letter-of-intent on Friday.

Porter has played football most of his life and he said it was his sport during his freshman and sophomore years.

“Football was going to be my thing. That’s what I was getting looked at. I was at Ironton and I was getting looked at by a lot of colleges,” said Porter.

“But, basketball has always been my sport and football is just so hard on your body. With injuries I fell short. You can’t expect everything to go right. I’m just going to try and come back and be healthy and come back and work as hard as I can.”

Porter put together two strong seasons for Rock Hill and started to get offers from various colleges. He considered Rio Grande and Northwestern (Ohio) before settling on Alice Lloyd.

“Alice Lloyd is the only one I took a visit to and talked to the coach and he really liked me and it’s not too far away and I just figured it suited me the best,” Porter said.

The 5-foot-9 guard averaged 15 points a game, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals a game as he was named to the Division 3 All-Southeast District basketball team and was Honorable Mention All-Ohio for the second straight season.

Alice Lloyd head coach Scott Cornett is looking forward to what Porter will bring to the offense.

“We see him as a combo guard who can play the point or two guard,” said Cornett. “He’s a really good scorer and we love shooters, so he will fit in very nicely.”

Porter is fully expecting to play point guard and he enjoys the role.

“I’m guessing I’m going to go there and play point guard. That’s what I’m expecting to do. That’s my expectations for myself,” said Porter. “I plan to go in there and try and take the job. I’m just going to go there and work.”

Porter understands the role of the point guard and he plans to earn either playing time or the starting job.

“I’m guessing I’m just going to be playing a typical point guard role. Shoot the ball when ‘ open, get everybody else open and handle the ball and handle the pressure,” said Porter.

“I just like to win. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, I just want to win.”

Porter doesn’t expect the transition from high school to college to be easy.

“My goal is to just be the best that I can be. I feel like with the injuries I was held back a little at Ironton and I came here and just tried to be the best that I could be and work my butt off,” said Porter.

Alice Lloyd was 17-16 this past season that included two wins over Rio Grande but two losses to Shawnee State. Porter is confident he can stack up against the next level.

“I’ve played against some players who you would say are D1 athletes and held my own against them, so I don’t think there’s anybody I can’t play with. You just have as much confidence as you can going in there,” said Porter.

Joining the Eagles’ program is also exciting to Porter.

‘They’ve got a really big rebounder. He’s one of the biggest rebounders around. It’s going to be nice to go play for him,” said Porter. “They’ve got a couple of pretty good shooters, a ball-handler, they’ve got a pretty good team.”

Porter said the only thing that could make playing college basketball better is if the team decided to go skydiving.

“I wish. I love adrenalin rush things like cliff jumping and skydiving. I’m a big adrenaline junkie. Live for the moment,” said Porter with a grin.

Porter is undecided on a major but is leaning toward business.

“It’s a hard decision. This is going to determine the rest of your life,” said Porter.