Pedersen hangs with the trees
STAFFORD
Often the smallest player on the court, Brooke Point junior guard Tim Pedersen also usually happens to be the most dangerous scorer.
Stafford County’s leading point-getter with 21.7 per game, Pedersen can score from the foul line, from 3-point range and now nearly everywhere in between.
“He’s a little bigger than when he first played on the varsity [as a freshman] and he has developed more confidence in his mid-range jumper,” Brooke Point coach Joe Kania said. “That’s one of the lost arts. We knew he could score from the outside and on drives, but now he scores from even more spots on the floor.”
For the Commonwealth District’s fourth-place team, Pedersen has broken the 30-point mark twice. He scored a school-record 38 in a 69-61 loss at first-place Culpeper on Jan. 10 and 33 in an 80-71 defeat at Stonewall Jackson 15 days later.
Though Pedersen’s favorite NBA team is the Washington Wizards, his favorite player is Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics.
“There aren’t too many people who like him or would say he’s their favorite player, but Paul Pierce gets to the free-throw line a lot and makes a good percentage,” Pedersen said. “I try to get to the line eight times a night. There’s something about [Pierce]. I like his intensity on the court.”
Meanwhile, Pedersen’s biggest fan, he says, would have to be his father, Tim. Another proud follower is Robyn Alan Pedersen, the younger Tim’s half brother. Robyn Alan, who has cerebral palsy, graduated from Strasburg High School last summer.
“He had to have brain surgery over the summer and he still needs therapy, but he’s doing well,” Pedersen said. “He has gotten to see me play whenever we have a game close to him.”
In his first full year on the Brooke Point varsity team, Pedersen averaged 9.9 points per game in 2001-02. This season, he has fallen short of double figures only one time.
Pedersen’s a bit of a scoring prodigy, as most kids his age are now sophomores in high school. He began school as a 4-year-old, so he feels as if he has an extra year to develop. At 5-foot-9 and 135 pounds, he has a will to improve and to outplay bigger opponents.
“After my senior year, I might go to prep school,” Pedersen said. “I still have a year to grow and mature.”
For seven years, Pedersen was an AAU and club teammate of Potomac freshman guard Eric Hayes, the son of Potomac coach Kendall Hayes said. Both have excellent shooting and ball-handling abilities for players their age.
“I coached Timmy from when he was 8 years old until he was 14,” Kendall Hayes said. “He and Eric ended up on the same rec league team. I think both were 7 at the time. Both were very good little players at the time, and they played hard and with a lot of enthusiasm.
“Timmy has always played very aggressively and he just has a real warrior’s attitude. He’s a tough kid. Combine that with some athleticism and the fact that he’s a strong-willed kid, and you have a solid player.”
Pedersen was born in Manassas and spent most of the first five years of his life in the Shenandoah Valley. He moved to Stafford County 11 years ago. At Brooke Point, he’s also a baseball outfielder (this will be his first spring on the varsity team) and he may go out for football in the fall.
The Commonwealth District tournament begins Tuesday night. For the Black-Hawks, the highlight of the season has been last Tuesday’s 57-31 win over Albemarle, spoiling the Patriots’ bid to stay a game back of Culpeper in the district standings.
“We could take anyone in the district if we play like that,” said Pedersen, who successfully defended Albemarle guard Brett Maynard that night. “We shut down their two best players [Drew Atchison and Maynard], and that’s the kind of full-court pressure we can play.”