Greenport guard Ahkee Anderson strives to be the best

Rarely is 15-year-old Greenport sophomore Ahkee Anderson the oldest player on the court. He just plays that way. The 5-10 point guard has the skill, savvy and spirit of a street-smart kid who remembers what it was like to scrap his way onto the North Fork playgrounds of his childhood.

“When I was younger, the kids my age weren’t into basketball like I was. So I played with the older kids in the park,” Anderson said. “I always wanted to prove I was better than them and show them ‘this is my court.’ My first love was football and I started playing that when I was 6 because there were no basketball leagues for kids that age around here. Then I found a basketball team and I fell in love with the game. I wanted to be like LeBron James.”

So Anderson wears No. 23 for the Porters, a nod to the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar and not to the number also immortalized by Michael Jordan. Air Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty were before Anderson’s time. But his coach, Ev Corwin, sees one trait in Anderson that mirrors those iconic pros.

“What makes him stand out besides, of course, his skill, is his competitiveness,” Corwin said. “It’s an old-school competitiveness. He’s not backing down and he’s not losing that game.”

Anderson is one of the top guards in Suffolk. He has led the Class C Porters to a 7-2 start by averaging 23 points, nine assists and five steals with a high of 40 points against Mattituck on Dec. 20. He averaged 19.6 points per game on the varsity last year as a freshman and played on the Greenport JV as a seventh- and eighth-grader, continuing his basketball odyssey of always competing against older players. And always standing out.

“I remember the first time I saw him play, in fifth-grade CYO. My son was on his team,” Corwin said. “Even at 10 years old, you saw his vision and how he was a step ahead of everybody. At that early age, he had that something-something you can’t teach. A sixth sense. He handled the ball, got everyone involved, made the right decisions. He didn’t score that many points, but I walked away thinking, ‘Man, he’s good.’ ”

Corwin has reaped the profits of being a prophet. In Anderson’s first varsity game, a 64-53 loss at Class AA Hauppauge last season, Anderson had 23 points and 12 assists. “I came home that night and told my wife, ‘I’m lucky. I just got a lot smarter,’ ” Corwin said with a big laugh.

Later in his inaugural season, Anderson went head-to-head with Long Island scoring leader Kashawn Charles in a memorable shootout against Class A Wyandanch. Charles scored 46 and Anderson 27 in a game the Porters lost, 91-88, in overtime. “We were going back and forth, guarding each other and talking to each other,” Anderson recalled with a smile. “It was fun to play in a game like that.”

Because Greenport appears to be the class of Class C, Corwin has played an ambitious non-league schedule to prep his team for a postseason run. The Porters defeated defending Long Island Class B champion Center Moriches on Dec. 22, led by Anderson’s 27 points and 13 assists. He had 27 points and 11 assists in a comeback victory over Class A contender Bayport-Blue Point on Dec. 29 and had 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a victory over Stony Brook, which ousted Greenport in the Suffolk Class C final last season.

“Losing that game is something that in the end will be good for him,” Corwin said. “He took it personally. He’s still not over it. Here’s a 15-year-old who made All-State in Class C, made All-County as a freshman and he says, ‘I would’ve enjoyed last year a lot more if we won that game against Stony Brook.’ And he means it.”

To that end, Anderson said he will adapt to whatever the Porters need in any given game.

“On some nights I have to be more of a scorer; on some nights I have to be more of a playmaker because someone else might be hot,” he said. “But my main role is to bring energy to the team, be aggressive and set the tone. I do feel that I am a team leader.”

He gets a lot of that from his mother, Crystal Anderson, a vocal presence at Greenport games. She makes sure her son is grounded, on and off the court.

“She tells me that sports are good but she’ll take them away from me quick if my academics aren’t good,” said Anderson, a high-honors student, according to Corwin. “She makes me stay on task as far as academics go. She’s at every game. Loud and very enthusiastic.

“She used to be really bad,” Anderson said, chuckling about his mom’s exuberance. “She’s gotten better over the years.”

Just like her son. Imagine how good he will be when he finally is the oldest kid on the court.