Earlier this month, Jordan led Millikan in the final minutes of a hotly contested Moore League boys’ basketball game. The Panthers kept pushing the ball in transition looking for an open layup, but Millikan center Jackson Cryst had other ideas.
The 6’10” sophomore trailed the play, timed his leap perfectly and blocked the ball at the rim while the Jordan player fell to the floor. Instead of celebrating the block, or rubbing it in the face of his opponent, Cryst turned back to ask if the Panther guard was okay. They nodded at each other as Cryst went down the floor to catch a pass in stride and finish with a layup of his own.
“He’s done that several times, but he’s always checked on every single one of them,” Millikan coach Curtis Boyer said of Cryst and his block victims. “That’s really cool. We try to teach good sportsmanship but in this day and age with these kids there’s not there for everybody. I’m proud of (Cryst) for that. I want that to rub off on everybody else.”
“That’s how I would like to be treated on the court,” Cryst said. “Yes, I play super competitively and every time I go up I want to block the shot or dunk on them as hard as I can. But at the same time, that’s another high school athlete who wants to have a future and loves playing the game just like I do. It’s not that difficult to help someone up who is on the ground or make sure somebody is okay.”
That rare attitude has made Cryst a natural leader for both the Millikan basketball and volleyball teams.
“I think oftentimes (sports) are taken way too seriously, I just don’t see the harm in asking, ‘Hey man, are you alright?’” Cryst said. “I hate the idea of the fun being sucked out of a sport just because you want to win. I want to win more than the next guy does, but I don’t think that should take away the fun of it.”
Cryst had tons of fun a week before that Jordan game while recording a triple-double 19 points, 17 rebounds and 20 blocks in a win over Compton despite only played three quarters.
The 20 blocks in a single game tie a California high school record, according to CalHi Sports.
Most high school sports stars would seek out their statistics after a performance like that, but in classic Cryst fashion, he didn’t even know about his impressive stat line until the next day at school.
“(During the game) I was more excited about my other teammates scoring or us getting to 100 points than I was thinking about how many blocks I had,” Cryst said.
“As a dad, the part that means the most to me is how many compliments we get on the way he carries himself,” said Cryst’s dad, Geoff. “I honestly give all the credit to him. To have the wherewithal, patience and poise to do that at a young age, I have a ton of respect for him.”
Cryst, 16, is a Long Beach native who started his athletic career on the mat learning Brazilian jiu jitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing. He and his dad think that experience helped him mature physically.
“You’re basically just learning how your body works with stretching and foot work,” Geoff said. “I think that’s why he’s coordinated.”
“It really helped me embrace physicality,” Cryst said. “Being as tall as I am, you can’t shy away from contact because then you’re that tall for no reason.”
When he went through a growth spurt and stretched out before middle school, it was no surprise that Cryst found his way to the volleyball court. Geoff played volleyball at Long Beach State from 1994-97 before playing overseas and in AVP events.
Cryst has flourished as a middle blocker in four years with Long Beach’s Pinnacle Athletic Club where LBSU coach Alan Knipe works as a mentor. He joined the Marshall Middle School volleyball and basketball teams to find healthy challenges.
“Every point (in volleyball) matters a lot and there’s so many of them, so it’s a next ball mentality,” Cryst said. “If you make an error or the other team scores, there’s always the next ball… In basketball I really like the physicality compared to volleyball. I kind of want that contact a little bit, I want to go up and block a shot or dunk on somebody. I love the rush from all of the people watching and all of that energy.”
Boyer said Cryst was still pretty raw when he arrived at Millikan, but has worked hard in both sports to keep improving.
“When he first got here he was trying to block everything like a spike,” Boyer said. “We worked long hours in the gym just getting him to wall up. The biggest part was converting his mentality away from the volleyball court and what his body and brain were so used to.”
Cryst has learned that blocking the ball in basketball and volleyball have similarities. Instead of pummeling the ball, it's about taking away options while adversity changing the offensive attack.
“In the past two years at Millikan I’ve grown not only in my physical aspects and how I’ve played but also in my maturity and how I carry myself as a person on and off the court,” Cryst said. “Because I play sports my actions in class have weight and they reflect on me… it’s important for me to carry my family name a certain way.”
“You try to teach him that there’s a way to go about things,” said Geoff, who also gave due credit to his wife Ashley. “There’s a way to treat people and compete hard but still carry yourself in a respectful way. I understand competing fiercely, but there’s usually a way to meet in the middle.”
Cryst is averaging 13.4 points, 11.3 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game this season. Millikan finishes the regular season this week against Long Beach Poly and Jordan.
