Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – If strictly defined by a traditional position Mike Potter is a point guard.

In current basketball terminology the Clear Creek Amana senior is a facilitator and by his own comparison Potter is a high school version of Philadelphia 76ers standout Ben Simmons.

Within the free-flowing, positionless system at Clear Creek Amana Potter is simply the perfect playmaker that makes it all go for the 12-2 Clippers.

“He’s like a Swiss Army knife, he’s just given us everything,” Clear Creek Amana coach Brandon Clubb said. “If you need it, he’s got it.”

In his second season as a full-time starter Potter has emerged as one of the most versatile players in the state and the perfect fit at point guard for a Clear Creek Amana team seeking a second consecutive state tournament appearance.

Potter ranks second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game but that hardly represents what he brings to the table.

The 6-foot-1 point guard leads Clear Creek Amana in rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots while directing an explosive Clipper offense that ranks second in 3A in scoring at 72.4 points per game while shooting a 3A-leading 53 percent from the field.

“I’m more of a guy that’s trying to get other people open,” Potter said. “I’m not the guy that’s going to go put up 30 points, I’m just out there to get other people going. As a big guard I can get to the rim but my main thing is getting other people the ball.”

Potter hasn’t just done everything on the court this season he has done it all at an extremely high level.

He is one of only two players in the state averaging more than five assists and eight rebounds per game grabbing 8.5 rebounds and handing out 5.2 assists per game.

Potter ranks in the top 10 in Class 3A in rebounds (8^th), assists (6^th) and steals (10^th).

“He just brings that pure guard aspect,” Clear Creek Amana senior Christian Withrow said. “The way he handles the ball, he dishes it, he can jump, the rebounds he is pulling down, the assists, he does all the little things that some people don’t notice and that allows other people to put points on the board.”

In his first season as a starter Potter averaged 8.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2 assists per game last season.

This season those numbers have soared as Potter has had an expanded role with the ball in his hands.

“I tried to improve my ball handling and being able to get past defenders and being able to finish around the rim,” Potter said. “I just wanted to round out my game.”

The depth of his game is what makes Potter so impressive.

He has scored in double figures nine times and has five games with double digit rebounds.

Potter has scored 16 points in a game, grabbed 16 rebounds in another and had a career-high 13 assists in a win over Williamsburg last week.

He has posted four double-doubles this season and has eight games with at least three steals.

“He’s done everything to be honest,” Clubb said. “Setting up his teammates is probably what he does best, he’s always been a good rebounder, he’s always been able to score but just having the ball in his hands and distributing it to who it needs to go to and having the chemistry with those guys I think that’s been huge for us.”

Potter does everything efficiently.

He has a better than 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio and is shooting a career-best 59 percent from the field and leads the Clippers with 68 trips to the free throw line.

His ability to distribute the ball to teammates has helped create a balanced attack with six players averaging at least 9.6 points per game.

“We’ve been playing together for a long time, since kindergarten,” Potter said. “It’s good to know how everyone plays. We’ve been playing together for so long it’s easy to know where people and how to get them in spots to make shots.”

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