Jackson grad’s ‘off the charts’ rebounding leads Skagit Valley into NWAC tourney

Carl Howell had never seen anything quite like it.

The Skagit Valley College men’s basketball coach was watching his team play at Wenatchee Valley in December when Cardinals freshman forward Sylas Williams launched a 3-pointer from the right wing. The ball bounced off the rim to the left side of the hoop, and somehow Williams — the player who took the shot from 25 feet away — was the one there to corral the rebound.

“That was a remarkable play,” Howell marveled.

“This is my 20th year as a head coach in NWAC — I spent 15 years at Tacoma before coming to Skagit — and I’ve never seen a better rebounder in NWAC,” Howell added. “He just has a nose for the ball.”

And the Jackson High School graduate’s rebounding acumen is a big part of why the Cardinals feel good about their chances as they head into the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.

The NWAC men’s and women’s basketball tournaments begin Wednesday at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, and Skagit Valley is one of the top contenders on the men’s side. The Cardinals (24-5), who are the No. 2 seed from the North Region, face South No. 3 Linn-Benton in the round of 16 at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Meaning the Roadrunners are the next team that has the headache of trying to figure out how to keep Williams off the glass.

“I don’t even know,” Williams answered when asked why he’s such an effective rebounder. “I think it’s mostly effort. And when I see a shot is about to go up, I try to get good positioning to get a rebound. But I don’t really practice it. There aren’t a lot of drills you can do, it’s kind of an innate skill you have.”

Williams has always been a strong rebounder. He was always one of the tallest players on the floor when he was growing up, and at 6-foot-7 he’s still among the taller players at the community college level. He averaged 14 rebounds per game as a senior at Jackson, when he was named The Herald’s 2023 Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

But no one — not Howell nor himself — expected Williams to do what he’s done this season. Williams is leading NWAC in rebounding at 13.6 boards per game. That is 2.2 more than anyone else in NWAC and more than twice as many as any other player at Skagit Valley.

And Williams wasted little time showing what he could do. In his first-ever collegiate game against Evergreen College, Williams pulled down 20 rebounds, the first of three 20-plus rebound efforts he’s had so far this season.

“I knew he was a great rebounder, but I’d be lying if I said I thought he’d have multiple 20-rebound games,” Howell said. “I did not expect that.

“You started seeing it in practice,” Howell added about when he realized the kind of impact Williams would have on the glass. “Once we got into practice and he got going, you could see that his ability to rebound was off the charts. Then sitting there watching his first game, he just grabbed everything. He looked like Dennis Rodman out there.”

Said Williams: “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d have this kind of immediate impact. I didn’t even think I’d play this much, I committed kind of late (in late June). I guess coach said I was the missing piece, that I’d fit perfectly, but I didn’t think I’d help out this much.”

Williams is rebounding at both ends of the floor, as he leads NWAC in both offensive (4.3) and defensive (9.2) rebounding. However, it’s his rebounding on the offensive end that’s perhaps had the most positive effect for the Cardinals this season.

“He’s bailed us out so many times with his offensive rebounds,” Howell said. “We have a great 3-point shooter (Connor Drinkwine) and I can’t say the number of times Sylas has gotten an offensive rebound and kicked it out for an open 3.”

Rebounding isn’t the only way Williams has contributed to Skagit Valley’s cause this season. He also ranks second to Drinkwine on the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game while shooting an efficient 51.4% from the floor.

Williams and the Cardinals looked unbeatable early in the season, going a perfect 15-0 before North Region play started. Skagit Valley had a hiccup during region play, losing four of five at one point. However, the Cardinals recovered to win six of their final seven, and Skagit Valley is back among the favorites to win the championship.

“I think we can go far,” Williams said. “We’re just focusing on one game at a time right now, and I know we’re up against a pretty tough team in Linn-Benton. But we have good momentum going into the tournament, we’re coming off three wins against good teams. We’ll see how it goes once we get down there.”