Junghans Hood-winks foes at college

Magruder grad Ryan Junghans leads Hood College men’s basketball team into its first NCAA Division III tournament

‘‘It’s funny — I talk to [Springbrook alum, 2004 Gazette Player of the Year and George Mason standout] Folarin Campbell quite a bit and whenever Folarin asks to see how we’re doing, he always asks how Ryan is doing,” said Adams. ‘‘Because we had some hellacious battles. I remember we were playing at their place their senior years, and Folarin was on the free throw line deep in second half, misses, Magruder outlets to Ryan who drills the three, momentum shifts and they win by three. I just remember when it left his hand I was already like, ‘Shhhhhhhucks.”

After a distinguished high school career in which he helped the Colonels to a state title appearance as a junior and led the team in scoring as a senior, Junghans signed on to play at Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla.) before moving back closer to home to play at Division III St. Mary’s in St. Mary’s County. In his one year with the Seahawks, he averaged a hair under 10 points a game and notched 25 points in his last game with St. Mary’s, the CAC quarterfinals versus Goucher.

But a bit of genetic luck, at least from Hood’s perspective, brought Junghans to the CAC’s newest member. His brother Justin, who played for Magruder as well, is a senior guard for the Blazers. A year older (and two inches taller), he has a little big-brother influence on his younger sibling, and helped bring Ryan on board.

After sitting out a transfer year, he has made an immediate impact in this, his first year on the squad. On the season he’s made 46 percent of his threes, connecting from long distance over three times a game, and has led the team in scoring 15 times. His offensive explosions include three 31-point nights, a 32-point effort in an overtime victory over Marymount and a season-high 38 points in a win over King’s Point.

He has combined beautifully with Hood center, 6-9 Jesse Gutekunst, for what is undeniably the best one-two punch in the conference. Gutekunst is tall and wide, scoring just over 19 points a game for the Blazers, and requires double teams. But those doubles don’t come as hard or successfully with a marksman of Junghans’ caliber on the outside.

‘‘He’s a very skilled shooter — one of the best, if not the best, in our conference,” said Hood head coach Tom Dickman. ‘‘That’s his calling card, he can shoot up to 25 feet. With our big guy, we run everything through him and if he gets attention, Ryan will and shoot better than anybody. But he also scores off the dribble too, [he’s] just got a scorer’s mentality.”

What also separates Junghans as a player is his intelligence, which coincidentally or not, leads fairly perfectly into his aspiration to be a teacher. Academics has always been important to him, and was one of the biggest reasons he transferred to Hood.

He isn’t even thinking of balling after college, actually — he plans to teach special education and coach basketball when his Hood playing days end.

‘‘I think I’m actually a better coach than I am player,” Junghans said, who got to learn much of the game from Magruder coach Dan Harwood, one of the best in the county. ‘‘Just because of some of the things I can’t do, maybe, like — I’m short. But I’ve been around the game a long time and had some really, really good coaches. I’m looking forward to taking things from each of them and putting them into one coach.”

Notes: Hood, originally a women’s college, has only been coed for four years and this is its fourth year fielding a men’s basketball team. The Blazers play Hampden-Sydney (18-10) in Friday’s first round of the NCAA tournament at Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach.