Jun. 20—It figured that with more court time, dunks and blocked shots on his resume that 6-foot-9 Ezra Epperly might land a college scholarship, and that’s what happened.
In golf.
The recent Flathead High graduate is going to Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho, to play golf for the Warriors.
“I went down to Lewiston for a basketball and golf recruiting trip, both at the same time,” Epperly said. “They both went pretty well, but the golf went better because they had a spot for me.
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Flathead’s Ezra Epperly watches his tee shot during the Crosstown Cup at Buffalo Hill Golf Club on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
“I really liked the program and I liked the way their AD had it set up. I like to golf and I like Lewiston, where you can golf pretty much all year around.”
Epperly has been on a golf course as much as he’s been on a basketball court, and possibly more. He’s always been pretty good in both, but things kind of went sideways between his seventh grade and sophomore years.
“I wasn’t very tall my freshman year; I was 5-foot-11,” he said. “But after that I just kept growing.”
The growth spurt affected both sports, and while the things that made him good on the course — good, strong hands and serious clubhead speed — remained, the swing plane came and went.
“My swing kept changing,” Epperly said. “It is hard, when you grow a foot and a half in four years or whatever. My hands were always good, and that helped me be more consistent. But it was hard getting really good.”
Jeff Epperly, Ezra’s dad, figured he had another guard on his hands: Jeff was a 6-4 standout at Flathead and at Montana State.
“I don’t think it runs in our family, that kind of height,” he said. “Ezra’s always had big shoulders, though, and was kind of big as a baby. I thought he’d be in that 6-4, 6-5 range. Then he hit that growth spurt and it was really rough.”
The 5-foot-11 freshman became a 6-7 sophomore.
“Then he grew his junior year maybe another inch and a half,” said the elder Epperly. Along the way the clubs got longer — a new set of sticks each of the last four years, by dad’s count.
The basketball journey was a puzzle to solve as well. The guard became a little-used post player his junior year, then started for the Braves basketball team this past season.
His offense was inconsistent; he averaged 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. He also led Class AA by a large margin with 3.0 blocks a night. Highlights include a couple early dunks in a defeat of Missoula Hellgate, and 17 points in a win over Helena Capital.
The biggest highlight, though, came in late September: Epperly was the medalist at the Western AA Divisional golf tournament.
“I didn’t get much better between my eighth grade and sophomore year,” he said. “But then I made a big jump my junior and senior years, when I basically stopped growing.”
“He was always able to hit it long, but you didn’t always know what county it was going to land in,” Flathead coach Roy Antley said. “He’s strong. He’s a 6-9, strapping kid. Harnessing that power and controlling that swing was the challenge. I think he matured emotionally and physically these last two years, and I think he realized that 90 percent is better than 100 percent sometimes.
“He just had a really good solid senior year.”
MSU-Billings noticed, along with L-C State and a few D-III schools in Washington.
“He has unique characteristics as a golfer,” says his dad. “His clubhead speed is ridiculous. It’s in the 125 miles per hour range. That’s a pro golf tour speed. I think that’s what the coaches saw at Lewis-Clark State, when they got him on the range. You can’t teach that stuff.”
What they can teach is course management and the mental part of it — which is obviously a big part of golf. Epperly fell off to a tie for ninth at his final State AA tournament, but the talent is there.
“He’s quite a bit different than me in a lot of ways. I was detail-oriented, really into practice,” Jeff Epperly said. “He really wasn’t that way, but I think a lot of it was that he changed so much between his freshman and sophomore years. He went from playing guard to the tallest kid on the floor.”
Both father and son leave open the slight possibility of college basketball. The Warriors have an excellent NAIA program, though no open spots. It should be noted that, like clubhead speed, height is something you can’t teach.
“We’ll take it as it comes,” Ezra said. “They’re a really good basketball team, I’d love to play for them. I’m going there to golf, and if they wanted me on the team I’d certainly think about playing.”
“I’ve told him and his uncle Jimmy told him, ‘Let’s see how this goes. Just be flexible,'” Jeff Epperly said. “You want to be a college athlete? Let’s go.”