Alex McConnaughy has developed into a go-to offensive player for the Darrington boys basketball team thanks to his outside shooting abilities.
“He’s definitely a threat with his outside shot when he’s on,” Loggers coach Cam Ross said. “(Shooting) was his thing coming into the program, and he’s worked hard to make sure other teams have to respect his outside shot. Now he’s got a lot more confidence to step out and knock down a 3.”
McConnaughy, a senior, was a second-team All-Northwest 1B/2B League selection last season.
Here are five things to know about McConnaughy:
He takes pride in other areas of his game besides shooting. “I steal the ball a lot,” McConnaughy said. “I have a tactic that I use. (The other team) brings the ball down the court, and I make it look like (there is more space) than there actually is. Coaches like to say ‘arms up on defense,’ but I keep my arms down. It messes with (my opponents’) heads. They think they’re going to throw it to the guy and, boom, I steal the ball and take it for a lay-in. I usually do that a couple times a game.”
He’s motivated by the memory of his grandfather. “I think a lot about my grandpa, Bud Andrews,” McConnaughy said. “He passed away in 2008 when I was 7. I think about how proud of me he would be if he was still here, so that’s why I try to work as hard as I can to get better. I remember when I was a kid we’d go outside, and I’d have a little plastic baseball bat and he’d sit in a chair and throw a baseball to me over and over. He wasn’t healthy enough to throw, but he was stubborn. He didn’t care if the ball hit him or not — we’d be out there for hours throwing and swinging. He was my favorite grandpa, and to this day one of my favorite people.”
He’s thinking of becoming an emergency medical technician. “I’m looking at going to Skagit Valley College and going through their EMT program,” McConnaughy said. “I like the idea of saving people’s lives. I tell people all the time that I don’t like routine. I don’t want to go to a job and sit in an office and do the same thing every day. For an EMT, every day is different — there could be a car wreck one day, a fire the next. You’re dealing with different people, different injuries, different scenarios, different everything.”
When he’s not in school or playing basketball, he’s probably working. “I work at an early-learning center for kids, about a three-minute walk away from my house,” McConnaughy said. “I clean dishes and make food and that sort of stuff. I’ve also painted and done building revisions — a whole mix of things. When I’m not there, I do miss the kids and my co-workers, to be honest.”
He describes himself as open minded. “I’d say I’m happy, energetic, not awkward, and easy to talk to,” he said. “I also think I’m more of a leader this year. In the past I was told that I could be a leader, but I didn’t know how to channel (those abilities). Now I’m embracing them.”
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