A little over four years ago, Worth County’s Anfernee McLemore quietly showed up in Sylvester. He moved to town to live with his grandmother. McLemore’s mother was in the Army and as such, the family had moved around quite a bit. Facing another move with his mother, McLemore came to Sylvester from Virginia to provide some stability. He didn’t know very many people in Worth County; neither did anybody know him. So when he showed up on campus, the basketball coaches had no idea that one of the best players in the state was about to join their program.
It didn’t take them long to find out.
McLemore, who had only been playing organized basketball for about a year and a half when he moved to Sylvester, made quite an impression on his coaches. He moved in about halfway through his eighth grade year. When McLemore went out for basketball the next year, he managed to works way into the line-up off the bench early in his freshman year. By Christmas, however, he was starting, and he hasn’t looked back since. Now 6’8” and 210 pounds, he’s one of Georgia’s premier players. McLemore, who has committed to Auburn, has already had a tremendous career at Worth County. This year, he’s hoping to cap things off with a trip to Macon.
McLemore, a power forward, is a complete player who can control a game from both ends of the floor. Everyone likes to look at his offense – and with good reason. According to maxpreps.com, he is averaging 18 points and 12 rebounds a game this season. However, McLemore says it’s his defense that really sets him apart. “I’ve always been pretty good on offense but I’ve been really working on defense. I take a lot of pride in stopping my opponents from scoring,” he says. The attention to defense has worked well for McLemore; he was second in the state last year in blocked shots and this year, he’s averaging over six blocked shots per game.
After his freshman year, McLemore realized he was good enough to play Division I basketball. He says he began paying attention to the best players in the country, mainly seniors, and he saw he could match up well with them. “If they could do it, so could I,” he says. McLemore began playing AAU (his current AAU team is the Atlanta Celtics) and saw that he could play with those kids who had been tagged as some of the country’s top prospects. “In AAU, it’s pretty tough,” he says. “You have to play your hardest every day. The whole other team has Division I offers. I feel like I adapted well and played well. I got a lot of scholarship offers from those AAU tournaments.”
Neither AAU tournaments that he played across the country nor all the attention he started receiving as more and more college coaches and media organizations could distract him from his first love, which is representing the Worth County Rams on the court. If there’s one thing McLemore is missing in his high school career, it’s a deep playoff run. The Rams have made the state playoffs once during his career; his sophomore season, Worth County advanced to the Sweet 16. Last year, the Rams lost in the region tournament to Cairo, which eventually made it to the Final Four. “I definitely want to compete for a region championship this year. After that, I want to make a deep playoff run. I’d like to get to Macon this year. We have the talent and the drive to get there,” he says.
Sidebars
#1: On going to Auburn: “The coaches made a big impression me. I fell in love with the atmosphere on campus when I visited. I felt like it was a place I could stay for four years. I had 17 or 18 offers but Auburn just felt right.”
#2: On playing other sports: “For the past three seasons, I’ve been running cross country. I average a 20:00 5K. I ran cross country to train during the offseason and stay in shape. It helps you get in the mindset of endurance. It’s more relaxing than basketball. It’s a different kind of running and you’ve got to commit to a long event.”
#3: On grades: “I’m a 4.0 student. I’ve never made a B in high school. It’s all about believing in a dream you have. I knew that grades were going to help me get into college as much as basketball would.” Because of McLemore’s attention to academics one of is 18 scholarship offers came from Yale.
#4: On the future: “I dream of playing professionally, either in the NBA or overseas. I’d also like to get a master’s degree. I keep God on my side, a clear head, and I pray about the future. At the end of the day, I’m here to play basketball. I don’t entertain any negative thoughts.”
Player Spotlight/South Georgia/February 2016
Anfernee McLemore
Worth County High School
Sylvester, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
