When the county canceled winter sports, this basketball star took his talent to boarding school

But with the novel coronavirus pandemic destroying a significant part of his path, the 16-year-old strayed. He will play this winter at Putnam Science Academy, a boarding school in eastern Connecticut.

Ituka knew he needed a new plan July 22, when Montgomery County announced the cancellation of fall and winter sports. It was a drastic move, one the county has since reconsidered. It sent Ituka and many other athletes into a late-summer scramble for the possibility of a season.

“Honestly, I was stunned,” Ituka said. “I was looking forward to finishing out my senior year and everything that comes with that.”

Over the past three years, Ituka’s refusal to leave Gaithersburg made him a fascination locally — the most talented outlier of a hoops landscape defined by a parade of private school players. People often would ask him, both curious and confused, why he stayed. His answer came down to two things: a love for Gaithersburg and an undying belief in his abilities.

“If I’m a good basketball player, I’m going to shine anywhere,” he said. “Even if I’m not playing in the [Washington Catholic Athletic Conference] against these guys who they see as the top players, I’m still doing what they’re doing in my conference. Even if I wasn’t doing it in mine, I’d do it in theirs, too, because I am a good basketball player.”

Before last season, Ituka’s highflying Gaithersburg running mate, Jordan Hawkins, transferred to WCAC powerhouse DeMatha, one of the most celebrated private school programs in the nation. Hawkins captured a conference championship with the Stags in February and committed to Connecticut this month.

Even without Hawkins, Ituka stayed steady on his path. He continued to cross off goals, leading Gaithersburg back to the playoffs by averaging 26 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. He earned All-Met honors for the third time and was named Montgomery County player of the year.

College offers arrived. With a strong AAU season in the spring and more of the same success at Gaithersburg this winter, Ituka could have had his pick of high-level programs. But in March, two weeks after the end of his junior season, everything came to a halt.

As sports paused, Ituka continued to work on his game with his older brother, Eyamba. They spent much of the spring and summer in search of a consistent place to play. To enforce social distancing, the county removed the rims from public hoops. When the pair couldn’t find a court, they would run together, sprinting up hills or around a lake near their house. Eventually, Eyamba found a nearby church with a court and the caveat that the brothers had to use it at 6 a.m. Sometimes they would stay up all night together instead of waking up early.

“We were constantly trying to work,” Eyamba said. “We’d get up early, get to the gym, rest up, run and then do it all over again.”

All that work suddenly seemed in vain when Montgomery County announced there would be no basketball this year. A few hours later, Ituka called Jeff Holda and headed to the Gaithersburg coach’s house. The two talked in Holda’s garage for more than an hour. They mourned the loss of their season, reminisced on all they had accomplished together and looked toward the future.

In the weeks after, Holda would be one of three men who invested their time and energy into helping Ituka, just as they always had. As the guard searched for a new basketball home, Holda and AAU coach Tryrian Ridges stayed in contact with interested programs and relayed information to Ituka and Eyamba, who is six years older.

For Holda, working hard to give his best player away was strange at first. It always felt odd to discuss Ituka’s transfer with another coach, but it was easy to explain why he would be a great addition.

“He’s earned this,” Holda said. “He’s done everything he can for me as a player and as a teammate in our program. He’s put himself in this position where all these people want him. And they want him for the right reasons.”

Ridges heard from schools up and down the East Coast. There were multiple schools from Pennsylvania, one from Connecticut and several private programs from the D.C. area. He would rattle off Ituka’s strengths, trying to steer clear of hyperbole but emphasizing what kind of competitor the player is.

On Thursday night, Ituka announced where he would spend his senior season. He leaves at the end of the month.

By the time Ituka arrived at his decision, Montgomery County had reopened the door to holding a condensed basketball season in the spring. The initial cancellation had been met with widespread backlash, and no other local districts had proposed a similar move since. But by the time a season was back on the table, it was too late.

“I’ve already moved forward,” Ituka said. “There’s no going back.”

He will play at Putnam, a well-known basketball program in the Northeast. Ituka said the school is confident it will hold some kind of season and has promised him near-constant access to its gym. While he is sorry he has to leave Gaithersburg and his family, he says he is unafraid of a new venture. It will be like going to college a year early, he said: few distractions, plenty of basketball and a sense of independence.

After three years of sticking to a plan and three weeks of uncertainty after that plan was foiled, Ituka is comfortable with what lies ahead.

He likes this new path.

Said Eyamba of his little brother, “He believes he can do anything.”

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