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Fort White guard Tafari Moe is the LCR’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year. (BREGAY HARRIS/Special to the Reporter)
FORT WHITE — Tafari Moe remembers the feeling in the locker room.
Down 11 at the half against Hawthorne in the Region 3-1A semifinals, there wasn’t much to say. Sure, head coach Elven Sheppard went about his business, trying to fire guys up with talk of accountability and grit.
But as players sat by their lockers, Moe said the mood was calm. He looked toward fellow guard Jayden Jackson, and the two knew what they needed to do.
“There wasn’t much to be said,” Moe said. “I just told him we’ve gotta do it for the seniors… We’ve gotta make it pay off.”
Moe wound up leading his team with 19 points for that game, wrapping up an upset that shocked the state semifinalists from the season prior.
While it’s just one part of a great season for the Fort White junior, it also showed why he deserved to win the LCR Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors.
“I’m extremely humbled to receive this award,” Moe said. “Going into the season, I set out for one of my goals to be the best in Columbia County, so I’m extremely humbled.”
Sheppard knows what he has in Moe as well. He sees a rare maturity in Moe that allows him to push himself to new heights on and off the court.
“As he’s grown physically, I feel like he’s matured mentally,” Sheppard said. “His game has obviously progressed, but just seeing him grow as a young man on and off the court, that’s something that I’m super proud of. He’s super intelligent.”
Sporting a 3.96 GPA, Moe’s accolades off the court compliment his game well. He averaged 16.4 points per game to go along with 5.7 rebounds.
However, Moe also takes great pride in his defensive abilities. That showed in the regional semifinal against Hawthorne. Just a week after Hornets guard CJ Ingram went off for 30 points in the Indians’ District 6-1A semifinal, Moe was tasked with slowing Ingram down.
He did so much more than that. Ingram was held to just 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting after winding up in foul trouble in the first half. All while Moe himself grabbed key offensive rebounds for putbacks in the second half.
“Going into that, I kind of knew that I was going to guard him,” Moe said. “I wanted to guard him because I like facing the other team’s best player, and I take pride in that.”
The effort isn’t lost on Sheppard, who has seen Moe start as a freshman and his development over the last three seasons into the player he is today.
“At his position, I felt like T-Moe played as good as any guard in the area,” Sheppard said. “As a two-way guard, he was relentlessly attacking the rim, being a threat to score, rebounding and, most importantly, defending.”
A guard with length and skills on the defensive end, Moe said he likes to mold his game around the styles of NBA players like Russell Westbrook and Anthony Edwards.
“Players who take pride in playing defense and take pride in hustling throughout the whole game and things like that,” Moe said.
That passion to be his best has sometimes worked against Moe. Sheppard said during his development, Moe might try to push things too fast or too hard as opposed to going with the flow and letting things come to him. Still, better that than the alternative, according to Sheppard.
“I’d rather have my guys have to calm him down than having to pull them along the way and amp them up,” Sheppard said. “He’s one of the ones that you have to calm down…I would love to have that problem in all of my players, and I typically do.”
Moe is also already an accomplished receiver and corner on the football field as well. The 6-foot-2 athlete recorded 15 catches for 240 yards and three touchdowns last year while also pulling down five interceptions and knocking away 10 more passes, both team highs.
Still, Moe says he likes basketball a little bit more but could see himself carving a future in football at the next level.
But throughout the years, the goals have always been the same for Moe: be the best he can be, and help his team, no matter the playing surface. That includes that elusive trip to Lakeland for the state Final Four, an event that would mark Fort White’s first foray into that company.
“Be one of the top-performing teams that Fort White has had in its history,” Moe said. “I would say my goal for next season is to make it to Lakeland.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
G: Tafari Moe
Fort White, junior
The LCR’s Player of the Year led the Indians in scoring with 16.4 points per game while averaging 5.7 rebounds, helping them reach their first regional final in program history.
G: Jayden Jackson
Fort White, sophomore
Averaged 13.6 points, two rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game for the 17-7 Indians.
G: Eiston Mikell
Branford, junior
Led the Buccaneers to a 15-8 record, making an area-most 62 3-pointers while averaging 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
G: Marlin Haywood
Columbia, junior
Averaged a team-high 9.9. points per game along with 2.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.9 steals for the 15-13 Tigers, who made the playoffs as a district runner-up.
F: Brandon DeMartino
Fort White, senior
Led the Indians with 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while averaging 12.2 points, 1.5 assists and one steal.
F: Amarie Fleming
Lafayette, senior
Averaged a double-double for the 12-9 Hornets, posting area-bests of 16.9 points and 10.4 rebounds while also posting 1.2 steals per game.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Elven Sheppard, Fort White
Led the Indians to a 17-7 record and their first playoff berth since 2019, where they advanced to the regional finals for the first time in program history. Fort White avenged a district semifinal loss to Hawthorne by winning the rematch in the Region 3-1A semifinals, rallying from 11 points down for a 56-51 victory. It was the Indians’ first playoff win since 2014, and that 17th victory was their most in a season since then as well. Their campaign ended with a loss in the regional finals to Hilliard, which finished as the state runner-up.
HONORABLE MENTION: Columbia: Jalen Gaskins, Zamarion Jones; Fort White: Najeeb Smith; Branford: Camden Gaskins; Lafayette: Jalen Hill, Tywan Williamson
— All-area capsules by Sports Editor Jordan Kroeger