By Matthew Hatfield

Correspondent

One of Suffolk’s own announced this week he will play college basketball in one of the premier conferences in the country.

Former Nansemond River standout Scott Spencer gave a verbal commitment to the Clemson Tigers.

Dialog between Spencer and the Tigers picked up in July, right before an Amateur Athletic Union tournament in Las Vegas and shortly after he left the Boo Williams travel squad to play for the North Carolina-based Team Wall.

“After Vegas, I went on a visit to Clemson. Everything felt right to me, my parents and we loved it,” remarked Spencer.

“The head coach (Brad Brownell) was at most of my games when I was with Team Wall, probably 90 percent of them. He put faith in me and believed that I could take my game to another level. I really liked that, felt that he was sincere and that’s why I will be going to Clemson.”

In five seasons under Brownell, Clemson has gone 90-73 overall, including an NCAA Tournament appearance his first year there in 2010-11.

Ranked a three-star prospect by Rivals.com, Spencer said he considered offers from East Carolina, Hofstra, Murray State, Western Kentucky and Wofford. In the end, the allure of playing in one of the nation’s most respected conferences was too much for the 6-foot-6-inch swingman to pass up.

“I always dreamed of playing in the ACC and against the best of the best. That’s really what the ACC is. If you take basketball serious, that’s the conference you want to be in,” Spencer said. “I always told my mom that if I ever got the chance to play in the ACC, I would.”

After spending the previous three seasons at Nansemond River, Spencer reclassified and transferred to Blue Ridge, a private, all-male boarding school located in St. George near Charlottesville.

It took some adjusting.

“Having nobody to tell you that you have to do your homework and living in a dorm is way different than living in your house. You have to take responsibility and I did hate it at first, but it’s preparing me for college,” said Spencer, who helped the Barons win a VISAA Division II state title.

“It was a great year. We all sacrificed for each other. I knew if I could shoot the ball, get rebounds and dive on the floor for loose balls, we could win a championship.”

Spencer’s former coach, Nansemond River’s Ed Young, also expressed his thoughts on the news.

“I’m extremely happy for Scott and his family. The kid’s a good worker, a good student. I’m still mad that he left us, but I wish him well and like to think that we at Nansemond River can take some pride in him deciding to go to Clemson,” stated Young, noting Spencer is the first player he’s had in his 27 years of coaching to accept a scholarship offer to an ACC program.

There have been quite a few twists and turns along the way for Spencer, from playing at two different schools as well as for a couple of AAU teams. Not being ranked as high as he’d hope has served as a motivating factor.

“My journey has been hard. I was always that underrated guy and felt like they always would put somebody over me or say, ‘well, you’re good, but you can’t do this or you can’t do that.’ Steadily proving people wrong is what I’ve looked to do,” Spencer said.

“Hard work takes you a long ways and takes you places you probably never dreamed you’d be going.”

Spencer holds a 3.0 GPA and plans to study biomedical engineering in college.