By Zach Smart
It didn’t take much to
sell Yorktown native Jordan Moody on SUNY Plattsburgh.
As a senior at Yorktown
High in 2011, Moody was seeking a winning environment that could match its
basketball culture with top-notch academics. And so, one spring campus visit
left Moody with a lasting impression.
Getting acclimated to the team-family
environment, exploring a scenic campus, and receiving a crash course on what
type of subjects were offered, Moody immediately realized he was tailor-cut for
this program.
It appears the crafty
6-foot-4 combination guard made the right call.
Flushed into a more prominent
role after meager minutes as a spindly freshman, Moody evolved into the team’s
second leading scorer, averaging 10.0 points. The former Husker shot the rock
at a .495 clip, with a 21-point performance against Buffalo State and a
22-point showing against New Paltz (9-for-16 FG) instilling a new confidence in
the scorer.
During the final six
games of the season, Moody dropped 14, 12, 14, 16, 13 and 11 to solidify his
status as a stabilizing force in the backcourt for head coach Tom Curle. The
Cardinals, which finished the season at 20-9, pieced together a balanced
scoring attack during its final stretch of games.
The season concluded
with an 89-72 loss to no.2 Amherst in the second round of the Division-III NCAA
tournament.
A Look Back
The Huskers garnered a
berth in the Section I semi-finals at the County Center in 2009, when
then-sophomore Moody ceded the spotlight to 6-foot-8 behemoth Keith Thomas (who
oozed of Divison-I talent). Both players pushed each other's evolution over the
years, hitting the weights and running high-intensity pickup games at Solaris.
Known and revered for
his hyper-athleticism, step-back jumpers, and explosive drunks in traffic,
Moody registered his imprint during a breakout junior season.
He started his junior year with a loud
eruption, hanging 24 points on Peekskill’s All State guard Daequan Brickhouse
in the mano-e-mano star watch aspect of that battle.
Moody developed into the
scorer on whom Yorktown leaned heavily. He erupted for 30 against Mahopac and dropped
24 or more points on five occasions.
Moody’s senior year was
underscored by a 32-point explosion during a dizzying loss to John Jay. Again,
he was the catalyst for Yorktown, shouldering the playmaking duties and playing
at a level only rarified athletes could match.