FORKS — Back in his freshmen season the cheers were more like charity for Forks’ 6-foot-8-inch center Marky Adams.
Now after putting in wo years worth of work to improve and refine his game, Adams is wowing the Spartans’ faithful in an entirely different fashion as a junior.
“It always drives me nuts because people tell me, ‘You should have him work on this or that,’”but you know what, did you see this kid his freshman year?” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said.
“He was a player where if he scored in a JV game people would jump up and be happy because, ‘Oh my gosh, Marky actually scored,’” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said.
“And now he can pretty much dominate varsity games, at times.”
Adams is putting up an average of 17.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per contest.
Despite facing a host of similarly-sized big men on opposing teams, Adams is feasting inside offensively, shooting 70 percent from the floor on 46 of 66 shooting.
“I should be able to score against someone shorter than me,” Adams said.
“But playing against all these bigs is a lot more difficult. It really has helped me get better and try to improve to have a chance to play at the college level.”
Adams managed 22 points and two dunks against Elma’s 6-foot-8 post Kolton Emerson.
“It was awesome to see Marky go against a kid his size,” Gooding said.
“He did well. He sealed him a couple of times, had a great couple of drop steps.
“Anytime as a coach when you see a big go against a big and have your guy play so well and do footwork stuff, it’s a good feeling.”
Gooding said Adams’ improvement stems from his willingness to invest the time needed to get better.
“You know what, I say it pretty much every time I call in with a game score, everything he’s doing now is a testimony to his hard work,” Gooding said.
Adams said his upward trajectory started while going against former Forks standout Leo Gonzalez in practice as a freshman.
“He was a really good post and he helped me a lot just one-on-one,” Adams said.
“Anytime he could he helped me out. He’s been a really good mentor for me.”
Mark Raben, the father of recently graduated Spartans’ standout Colten Raben, also has pitched in to help the big man.
“Mark comes down and he’s an excellent teacher of post moves, so that works great for Marky,” Gooding said.
Adams agrees.
“Post moves, he taught me a lot of my post moves,” Adams said.
“And before a lot of our games, he’d tell me, ‘Every rebound is yours,’ and that was a motivator for me to really work for the ball.”
Adams also pointed to playing alongside fellow junior Parker Browning.
Browning leads Forks in scoring with 22.8 points per game.
“Playing with Parker works out great,” Adams said.
“He throws up a lot of shots that do go in, but if any are off I can get in there and rebound and get second-chance points.”
Adams also is the beneficiary of some well-placed passes from his teammate.
“Our combination works really well together,” Adams said.
“A lot of passes for my dunks are from him because he has good court vision and knows where I’m at all the time.”
Adams and the Spartans also benefitted from playing in the area summer league games at Peninsula College.
Like Adams, the Spartans as a team are coming close to turning the corner and becoming a winning team.
Forks (2-3, 2-5) has lost four games this season by a combined 13 points, including a four-point loss to Neah Bay.
“I think our biggest problem as a team is turnovers,” Adams said.
The Spartans average 22 turnovers a game.
“And if we could limit those, I think we can play with anybody in our league,” Adams said.
‘We score a lot, but we are missing out on possessions every time we turn it over.”
His game does have ample room to grow.
Adams averages 2.5 turnovers per game, and has just one assist on the season.
“I get double-teamed a lot and I need to work on getting the passes out to our guards to get a good shot,” Adams said.
“I’d like to be able to shoot a little further out. Most of my points come right near the hoop, and I’m okay with that if they keep coming, but being able to hit a baseline jumper or from near the free-throw line will help us draw the defense away from the hoop.”
Gooding knows another aspect where Adams needs to keep improving.
“He’s got to work on his conditioning and he knows that,” Gooding said.
“But any 6-foot-8 guy moving up and down the floor, it’s going to be harder for him than for a 6-foot guard that weighs 150 pounds.
“So part of it is conditioning, part of it is he’s a big body of mass moving up and down the court.”
Gooding, who Adams said, “has always been there for me,” also is helping Adams refine his game down low.
“He’s teaching me a baby hook right now, just trying to get another shot that works and is hard to guard,” Adams said.
Adams and Forks will have the chance for some nonleague wins during the team’s annual trip to play in the Holiday with the Hyaks tournament at North Beach High School in Ocean Shores on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of time on our offense and working to improve our press break,” Adams said.
“I think we have one now that we can run consistently, and I think it will help us get some more wins during league [play.]”
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
