KARNS CITY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Micah Rupp is a hunter. Opponent’s shots are his big game.
He’ll stalk them. Lie in wait for them, then strike with devastating results.
(Photos by Holly Mead. See more of her work here.)
A swat or a ball pinned to the backboard. Then the eruptions from the home crowd and the momentum swing to the Karns City boys basketball team.
“I love getting a chase-down block off the backboard,” Rupp said. “Almost feels better than dunking it.”
Rupp, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, has impacted the game on defense like few others can.
It’s not just his penchant for blocked shots — he’s averaging around a gaudy five per game down the stretch for the Gremlins, and 3.8 per game for the season. It’s also his rebounding and his quick hands that gets him plenty of steals.
Rupp’s numbers are strong across the board: 10.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game to go with his blocked shots.
Karns City coach Zach Kepple can’t put an exact figure on how many points per game Rupp is worth defensively, but it’s a lot.
“We played a game or two without him at the beginning of the year,” Kepple said. “One of those games was against Redbank Valley. We ended up losing by 20. The second time we played Redbank, he played in that game, and it was a one-point game (late in the game). It was a game we were close to winning. So, I mean, right there it’s a 20-point swing just because he’s dominating the glass, he’s blocking shots, those types of things.”
Rupp turned up the pressure in the second half of the season.
He became more aggressive, going after shots that he hadn’t earlier in the season.
“It was mainly Coach Kepple telling me to go after those shots because I have the ability,” Rupp said. “He’s helped with my confidence a ton this year, and I think that’s what the team needed.”
Kepple has noticed the change in Rupp.
So have Karns City’s opponents.
Even when Rupp isn’t rejecting shots, he’s altering the way teams play because of his mere presence on the court.
“Defensively, he’s just going after everything,” Kepple said. “Even the ones he doesn’t get, he just causes people to miss because they’re worried about getting swatted, so I think there’s a big mental factor there. ‘Is he gonna block me? Well, I’m not gonna give him a chance.’”
Rupp said he can also sense teams changing the way they play based on what he is doing.
“I definitely think they try to change how they shoot it when they see me coming towards them,” Rupp said.
Rupp has also picked up his scoring of late.
He dropped in 17 against Keystone in a win-or-go-home game in the District 9 playoffs. He scored 16 in a close loss to eventual champion Ridgway in the semifinals.
Through it all, his defense has remained game-changing.
“I think the scoring part was also Coach Kep telling me that when I want to score, I can, and there’s not too many people who can stop it,” Rupp said. “That, I think, was a big confidence boost.”
Even last season when Kepple was an assistant coach under Chris Bellis, he urged Kepple to shoot more.
Rupp was hitting at a 68% clip.
“I told him, ‘You’re making a lot, that means you need to shoot more,’” Kepple said.
This year when the Gremlins lost leading scorer Luke Cramer to an ankle injury for a few weeks, Rupp stepped up.
“I pulled Micah aside and said, ‘We need you to score more,’” Kepple said. “He went right into that role and did a really nice job.
“There’s more of a purpose to what he’s doing,” Kepple added. “He’s doing it in all aspects of his game, not just defensively.
Rupp came up big against Wednesday in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A playoffs. He scored six points, but had a key steal late to help the Gremlins rally from seven points down against Penns Manor with less than a minute remaining to move on.
He also had six blocks in the game.
Karns City (20-7) will take on Old Forge at 4:30 p.m. Sunday (yes, Sunday) at Mifflin County High School in Lewistown.
Rupp was also recently named to Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference first team, a large part because of his dominance on defense.
“It feels great,” Rupp said. “I was a little surprised I made it on the first team.”
Rupp is also happy his team is still alive in the state playoffs after that improbable comeback Wednesday, which was also keyed by Taite Beighley’s 18 points and traditional 3-point play late that gave the Gremlins the 46-45 win.
“It was pretty exciting because I think a lot of people were counting us out,” Rupp said. “But our team played great and Taite did his thing out there.”
