Boys basketball: Odessa’s Ryan Moffet eclipses 3,000-point career mark

Ryan Moffet entered play on Monday needing 14 points to become the second player in state history to score 3,000 points.

He did that with his first shot of the second quarter.

Moffet finished with 43 points and visiting Odessa beat Valley Christian 85-57 in a Northeast 1B South league game.

Valley Christian (6-8, 6-7) was led by Sam Reese with 23 points.

Odessa (19-0, 13-0) is ranked No. 1 in Class 1B in the WIAA’s RPI system, used to seed the state tournaments.

Asked after the game how many points he finished with, he replied, “No idea.”

The senior has 3,029 points and needs 71 to reach the state scoring record of 3,100, set by Brock Ravet (Kittitas) last season. Odessa has one regular season game left, then district playoffs.

Ravet passed former record-holder Lance Den Boer (Sunnyside Christian) on Feb. 1, 2019. Den Boer finished his high school career in 2003 with 2,851 points.

Moffet deflected praise for his rare accomplishment.

“It’s not just so much the points, it’s that they’re not empty points,” Moffet said. “Every point I scored, I needed to score. So, I mean, I just see the 3,000 as something I had to do for my team.”

Moffet says the state record takes a back seat to his ultimate goal.

“I want to be number one, right? But I want to win a state championship. So, it’s there, obviously, you can’t not think about it because everybody tells me about it. But it’s behind a lot of team stuff.”

Despite his charge up the state scoring list, the 5-foot-10 Moffet was not ranked in the preseason top 50 recruits in state and does not have an offer to play college ball yet.

“It (ticks) me off,” he admitted. “That’s why I come out here and I score 3,000, and that’s why we’re undefeated.”

Moffet says he hears the name “Ravet” a lot.

“Yeah, I hear it,” he said. “ ‘3,100. That’s ridiculous. 3,100 – no one will ever touch that,’ and then I’m just sitting there. I just sat there quietly. I worked all summer, worked all fall, knowing that I’m gonna have a chance to break it.

“And when I do, I’m gonna try and shatter it.”