Meet Dekar Moultry: Eastmoor Academy’s Next Star?
The 6-Foot-8 Freshman is Looking to Take The Next Step
COLUMBUS, Ohio - - Dekar Moultry was an unknown coming into this past season, but after a solid freshman year that saw him overcome an injury to his foot, he could be well on his way to being one of the best players in the City League.
Dekar was homeschooled as a kid, so this entire process was foreign to him, classes, multiple teachers in one day, lunchtime. Moultry had to not only acclimate to high school, but do so while never having attended one.
When asked about the adjustments he had to make, Moultry said, “meeting people I’ve never met before, even remotely close, it was kind of weird going in,” he began to say. “But then I started adjusting, getting used to my classes, it was a long time until I got used to that.”
Knowing that he did not have the same hype as other City League newcomers, Moultry still understood the impact he had on his team, saying, “I think I had a good impact, I think I was there to stop possessions that wouldn’t be stopped by other people.”
He began playing basketball in the fourth grade, consistently being the biggest or tallest player on every team he played on, but the high school learning curve is different for every player. Being a freshman and starting varsity, there are many lessons that can be learned, Dekar found out quickly that just being tall won’t get it done in the physical City League.
“Be strong with the ball,” was his response when asked the biggest lesson he took away from his freshman season, “and keep it up high,” he said while smiling, showing his still playful teenage spirit.
While battling through injury midway through the season and missing 12 total games, he was able to sit and watch the game a little more, get extra knowledge by sitting close to coaches on the bench and growing his own mindset to get tougher mentally.
When asked about what his injury did for him and his mentality, Moultry started by saying, “get stronger and work on my footwork more so it doesn’t happen again.” He continued with, “I ain’t know I could get injured like that, it wasn’t even in a game, it was in practice.
Moultry also demonstrated a knowledge of his own body because it happened again, just “not as bad,” according to him. After the second and less devastating injury, Dekar says, “I’m about to wear ankle braces every time I play basketball.”
Playing for a hard-nosed, old-school and well decorated coach like Jim Miranda is not easy, but this young man navigated through the season and took the lessons from Miranda and staff throughout the season, with Moultry saying the biggest lesson so far is “dunk the ball,” with another grin on his face.
“All these plays were designed for me to get the lob and dunk it or just dunk it. And always run, always hustle for the ball. When I was first playing I couldn’t get up the court without getting tired but then as the season came along I could go up and down the court and feel anything.”
The advice paid off for the freshman in his eyes, when he got his first in-game dunk, saying, “when I got my first dunk it was because I was hustling down the court and I got the ball and dunked it with two hands, it was really nice.”
Another big help for Moultry is assistant coach Jahmal Hughes, who also runs the JH95 AAU basketball program and has known Dekar since he was young.
“I met him early on in my life,” Dekar started, “when my mom found out he had an AAU team and I played for him in a Gus Smacker in 2020, I was pretty bad, my midrange game was good but I couldn’t make a layup. He got me right with that.”