GREENFIELD — If ever there was a day to take off, this would have been the one.
A four-year starter for Greenfield-Central’s boys basketball team, Dylan Moles just had his high school career come to an end.
State-ranked and on an 18-game winning streak, Moles and the Cougars were defeated by another state-ranked team, Anderson, in a Muncie Central Sectional quarterfinal game on March 1.
With tears in his eyes, he looked up to his head coach Luke Meredith and said, “Coach, you going to be there in the morning?”
Meredith said, “Absolutely.”
It’s almost routine, whether it was 7:15 a.m. before school or over a weekend, Moles is wanting to get in the gym and get his work in.
Even after a heartbreaking loss that ended his time as a Greenfield-Central Cougar.
“We had a great year. We came in with a lot of confidence and I felt we came in prepared,” Moles said of the Anderson game. “Things just didn’t go the way we wanted to and that happens.
“I have to stay in the gym. I’ve got other things I’ve got to stay ready for. That kept me motivated to coming in the next morning. I know I have to be ready for next year. I’m going to be a freshman again, so I have to be ready for that.”
“He’s going to go on to do great things at Marian (University in Indianapolis), but he was able to put Greenfield-Central boys basketball back on the map,” Meredith said.
Moles is the Hancock County Boys Basketball Player of the Year. A 6-foot, 3-inch point guard for the Cougars, Moles averaged 20 points per game, 5.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds. 2.0 steals and hit 46 3-point field goals.
He leaves as the program’s all-time leader in 3-pointers with 194, beating the record previously held by 2016 graduate Tate Hall, who Moles watched as a youngster. He had 1,460 points for his career.
This past season, he led the team to the most wins in school history (21) and a school-record 18-game winning streak.
“It’s just what he’s about,” Meredith said of the work ethic of his four-year star.
The coach said they’ve had a special relationship. Meredith was a first-year head coach when Moles was a freshman. They’ve developed quite a bond. They’re neighbors in Greenfield and the coach calls his star pupil, “like another son.”
“He’s just a great young man and if I had one way to describe him it’s hard-working,” Meredith said. “He’s a catalyst and has been a catalyst of our program. He’s somebody I know that wants it as bad as I do. We always clicked on those Saturday mornings and those Monday-thru-Friday mornings that we had. It brought us closer together. A great kid, with great work ethic and drive.”
“I’d like to say I work harder than a lot of people would be willing to do,” Moles said.
His hard work has paid off.
Moles improved his scoring and assist totals in each of his four seasons with the Cougars.
He averaged 9.1 points as a frosh, 14.2 as a sophomore and 19.2 in 2021-22. In assists, he’s gone from 1.2 per game as a rookie, to 3.2 as a second-year player and 3.3 as a junior.
“I feel it comes from a fear of letting myself down,” Moles said of his continued work on trying to be the best player he can be. “I don’t want to look back one day and regret not doing something, or not doing as much as I could to reach my highest potential.
“I think being looked over most of my career and feeling like I was under the radar, it has kept me hungry and internally motivated.”
“I’ve never had a kid that has wanted it as bad as he does,” Meredith added on Moles.
He shared a story that on spring break, in Cancun, Moles and his dad, Keith, drove around to find a goal so Dylan could get some shots.
There’s plenty more to come for Moles.
Today, he’ll play one last time with coach Meredith in the Hoosier Gym All-Star Classic. The 18th annual event is at historic Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, made famous from the 1986 movie “Hoosiers” where the Hickory Huskers defied odds to win an Indiana state basketball championship.
Today’s game features two state all-star teams, one will be wearing the uniforms of the underdog Hickory Huskers.
Fittingly, that’s the team Moles will be playing on.
