Mayo Lifts West Virginia School to New Heights

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Dec. 28 (AP) — O. J. Mayo left West Virginia five years ago to elevate his game. The stage he wanted for his senior year of high school, it turned out, was back home.

A 6-foot-5 high school basketball star, Mayo has been reunited with childhood friends at Huntington High School. Just as he did at his previous stop in Ohio, he has helped turn a team into a national contender.

It is the next step in Mayo’s array of dunks, 3-pointers and passing that moves to Southern California next season in what could be a short steppingstone to the N.B.A.

“I plan on making a living at this,” he said. “I know that’s going to be a lot of hard work and determination, but I feel like that’s why I was born and put on this earth, to be a leader, to be one of the greatest basketball players to ever play and to be a great example and role model for the kids and for different people out there who look up toward me.”

The two-time Mr. Basketball for Ohio and considered the nation’s top high school senior, Mayo has averaged 32 points in his first four games for Huntington, all lopsided victories. He has been the draw everywhere he goes, but not the only talent.

Some scouting publications have placed three Huntington players among the top 150 college recruits. And Huntington’s top six all could receive N.C.A.A. Division I scholarships.

“Most of your teams that are ranked in the top 10 in the nation, they’re not all from that same town,” Huntington Coach Lloyd McGuffin said. “Our guys are all from the same town. We’re a true high school team.”

Maybe the best ever in West Virginia. The state has produced the Miami Heat’s Jason Williams — who teamed with the future N.F.L. star Randy Moss yet never won a state championship — and the N.B.A. Hall of Famers Jerry West and Hal Greer, a Huntington native. But never has an entire team brought such attention.

Huntington is ranked in the top five nationally by Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Prep Nation.

It plays in a 16-team conference, so there was not much chance after Mayo’s enrollment in September to schedule nonconference games. But there are a few — against powers like Maryland-based DeMatha.

“We have a goal to be the No. 1 team in the country,” Mayo said. “We understand we do have a target on our back, and we’re here to take on all comers.”

Mayo’s mother, Alisha, a Huntington High graduate, initially did not want her son to follow in her footsteps out of fear he would not get help in landing a basketball scholarship. As a seventh-grader, Mayo was recruited to play high school basketball at a private school in nearby Ashland, Ky.

Dwaine Barnes, a family friend and Amateur Athletic Union coach, took Mayo and his childhood friend Bill Walker to Cincinnati’s North College Hill High in 2003. There they won two state Division III championships and brought national acclaim to the small school.

Walker was ruled ineligible for this season, and he is now playing at Kansas State. That left Mayo without a solid sidekick — until he moved back to Huntington, where there is no shortage of talent.

Mayo had played with Huntington’s Jamaal Williams and Mike Taylor in various leagues and all-star events since the fourth grade, and later with Patrick Patterson and Chris Early. All five played in the A.A.U. national championship game this summer.

“A lot of people are probably worried about maybe not having enough balls to go around,” Mayo said. “But us being a great basketball team and being great individual players, that shows it’s not a problem.”

With Mayo already signed by U.S.C. and Early heading to Oklahoma, the 6-9 Patterson, the returning state player of the year, is getting the bulk of attention from Division I coaches. Attending games so far have been Billy Donovan of defending national champion Florida, Kentucky’s Tubby Smith, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, West Virginia’s John Beilein and Virginia’s Dave Leitao.

In Huntington, an Ohio River city of 49,000 residents that includes Marshall University, some have joked that Huntington is the best team.

As recently as 2002, though, Huntington was 3-19. Two state titles later, Mayo is poised to take the Highlanders higher — no state Class AAA team has won three in a row.

“It’s not pressure,” Mayo said. “I’ve been leading probably since the fifth grade. I’m the oldest out of six other siblings. I have a single-parent mom. So that right there has taught me how to lead.”