'It’s buzzing around here': How Asjon Anderson is blazing a basketball legacy at Mount Tahoma High School
TACOMA, Wash. — Uncertainty could transform into legacy over the next two months for Asjon Anderson.
The Mount Tahoma senior already has molded himself into one of the top scorers in the state this season, averaging 31.5 points a game for a Thunderbirds team that is running away with the Class 3A Pierce County League so far this winter.
A league title would be the school’s first in boys basketball since 2004. But the T-Birds have sights sets higher than that, and even at mid-season are taking steps to measure themselves against some of the best in the state.
Take Thursday, when between PCL league games against Silas and Lincoln, Mount Tahoma sandwiched in a rescheduled (due to Covid protocols) test against Scorebook Live’s No. 2 team in the state, Auburn, on the road.
“I live for games like this,” Anderson said before the T-Birds 80-47 loss, only their second defeat of the season (12-2, 9-0).
Anderson finished with 32 points in the loss, suffering through a tough shooting night in which he made only four field goals all game. He did make 20 of 23 free throws, however.
It gave him a combined 59 points on consecutive nights after a 27-point outing in Mount Tahoma’s 74-63 league win over Silas (and 93 in three nights, factoring in his 34 at Lincoln Friday). It came on the heels of Anderson being named one of the WIAA Athletes of the Week for Jan. 10-16 — appropriate as the 6-foot-1 guard crossed the 1,000-point barrier for his career against Bonney Lake on Jan. 11.
And to think, Anderson essentially was a single decision away from none of it happening.
Last summer’s flirtation with BFL Prep in Seattle, an upstart prep school that competes in the Grind Session winter circuit, would have changed everything for Anderson and Mount Tahoma this season. There were social media announcements that Anderson was transferring, and discussions with family as well as Mount Tahoma coach Jason Townsend.
“I just know, three weeks in he said I’m not enrolling. Let’s go get this state championship this year,” Townsend said. “He never unenrolled. He was still a student here. It was just going and getting feelers out there. Coaches at that prep level, they talk a great game. But sometimes they can’t follow through with the things they’re saying to these kids.”
The decision to stay or leave Mount Tahoma did take some time. But in the end, the familiarity with his environment swayed Anderson.
“My family just thought it was the best decision to stay somewhere that I am comfortable at and not go somewhere where I am not really familiar with the parts,” Anderson said. “So, I just stayed at Mount Tahoma. (Coach) just said he wanted me to do what’s best for me. He was just glad to have me back.”
And if that decision had been to move, Townsend was ready.
“In every kid’s life you have decisions you have to make," Townsend said. “I’ve always told Asjon and his family that, ‘You know what, whatever it is that you decide to do, I’ll support you 100 percent.’ If you think going elsewhere is best for you, then I support it. Just give me a pair of shorts and a shirt and I’ll be at your games watching you.”
No shirt or shoes are required, as it turns out. Just Townsend’s signature suit for the sidelines.
“In the end, he’s a loyal, loyal kid and while I was sad to lose him,” Townsend said, “he decided he wanted to come back and create a legacy here at Mount Tahoma.”
The first step of that legacy, reaching 1,000 points, has now happened.
“I’m just trying to make the mark,” Anderson said. “Like go to state and do big in there. It (the scoring mark) wasn’t really a big deal because I score a lot, in general. That’s what I do. But my dad told me that you’ve gotta appreciate the little moments, and that was one of those little moments that I appreciated.”
Next up are creating some team memories and goals.
“We’ve built our chemistry from a year and a half ago, in Covid season,” Anderson said. “And ever since then, it’s just been good. It’s getting better and better every game and practice.”
Anderson believes that the combination of accomplishments will lead him down a similar path to where older brother Trevante Anderson has gone. Tre Anderson currently is a senior at the University of Idaho, transferring there after three years at San Francisco.
As a high schooler, Anderson and his Rainier Beach teammates finished second at state.
“I’ve always looked up to him and follow where he’s going,” said Asjon Anderson, before dropping in a little poke. “And do better than him.”
Where that competitiveness will take Mount Tahoma will be seen over the next several weeks. But whatever the season holds from here for the T-Birds, rest assured that Anderson will be in the middle of that legacy.
“With him, he just takes us to another level,” Townsend said. “It’s buzzing around here. I’m not saying we’re the greatest team in the world, but we’re going to play hard. With Asjon, I’ll schedule us against anybody and we’ll go and give it our best shot.”
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(Lead photo by Trina Hall, @coachtrina)
