MUSKEGON TWP. - Make no mistake, Reeths-Puffer’s Marvin Moore is very much a team-first player.
The standout senior guard is a quiet, modest honor student who measures success by how well the Rockets play, not by his personal statistics.
But Moore is well aware that he is close to securing a pretty special spot in the Reeths-Puffer basketball record book by reaching the 1,000 career point mark.
Ordinarily he might not know that, but a very close member of his family has been watching, counting and keeping him updated.
R-P senior Marvin Moore
“My mom keeps track,” Moore said with a smile. “She’s an accountant, and she loves counting numbers. She said I have to average about 15 or 16 points per game (the rest of the season), or something like that.“
If Moore got a recent update from his mom, he heard the following – he currently has 818 points in three-plus seasons of varsity basketball.
He was a late season call-up as a freshman and only scored 24 points that year. He became a starter as a sophomore and totaled 196 points. Last season was huge for Moore, when he poured in 415 points and led the Rockets in scoring. So far this season he has 183 points.
He is now 182 points away from reaching 1,000, with 13 regular season games left. So far this year he’s averaging 20.3 points per game, so the math says he should make it.
If that happens, he will become only the ninth Reeths-Puffer basketball star to reach that plateau.
At the top of that list is Jaxson Whitaker, R-P’s all-time leading scorer, who graduated in 2024 and finished with 1,390 points. Second is current R-P head coach JR Wallace (1999, 1,353 points), followed by Bryan Scott (1997, 1.333), Mark Hughes (1985, 1,332), Travis Ambrose (2024, 1,252), Emcee Williams (2020, 1,086), Bill Pickens (1966, 1,016) and Jerry Wallace (2002, 1,002).
“I did not know that,” Moore said, about possibly becoming only the ninth player on the list. “I am excited about it. I try not to put myself over the team, but it’s an awesome goal and it would be an awesome achievement.”
Coach Wallace, who is now in his second season of working with Moore, said he is a special player who definitely belongs on that all-time honor list.
“He has put the work in,” the coach said. “He’s a third year varsity starter, he’s played a lot of minutes, and he’s steady and consistent. It will happen, for sure. He’s going to get that done as long as he stays healthy."
Scoring a lot out of necessity
Ironically, Moore has been approaching the 1,000-point mark so quickly because he really has to.
Until the last few games, he has been the only real scoring threat for the Rockets, who are off to a rough 1-8 start this season.
It hasn’t always been like that for Moore.
As a sophomore and first-year starter, he was the team’s third scoring option, behind the legendary Whitaker and Ambrose, two of the stars on that 1,000-point list.
The Rockets posted a 19-4 record that year and won a share of the O-K Green conference title.
Moore, who averaged around nine points per game as a sophomore without the pressure on him, said it was a great time.
“It was extremely fun,” he said. “Having those two as role models was great. I just soaked everything in. They were both great scorers and leaders, and it made me start to think about my leadership.
“The locker room, and team dinners after games, were amazing.”
Things changed a lot for the Rockets last year, after Whitaker and Ambrose graduated. They fell to a 6-17 record and did not contend for conference or district championships.
Moore became the team’s leading scorer, but the pressure was not all on him. He played with senior forward Brayden Mitchelson, another big point producer, and they shared the load almost equally.
Mitchelson graduated last spring, however, leaving Moore as the only consistent offensive threat this season. There are other capable offensive players, but until the past few games, they really weren’t producing much.
Because of that, Moore draws a lot of extra attention from opposing defenders. He also has to find ways to score while also serving as the Rockets’ main ball distributor.
That means he’s faced more pressure in the first six weeks of this season than he ever has before – and has more than answered the challenge.
He scored 23 points in the season opener against Zeeland East. He had 26 against Grand Haven, 24 against Marquette and 24 against Sparta.
Those stats demonstrate Moore’s ability to deliver for the Rockets, regardless of changing circumstances and demands.
As Coach Wallace put it, “As a sophomore he was the third option, as a junior he was part of a duo, and now he’s the lone ranger. Every year he has seen a different phase of basketball, and he’s taken them all in stride and done a great job with it.”
Moore admits he has felt the extra pressure this season, but welcomes the opportunities that come with it.
“There is always pressure,” he said. “But I try to take that as a complement. I just have to be the guy who has this on my shoulders, to help out my team and be a leader.”
Great moves in the lane
Fans who watch Moore play know how he scores most of his points, and how much fun it can be to watch.
His specialty is driving the lane for layups, often in heavy traffic with several defenders in his way. He uses his incredible athleticism as he takes to the air, weaves around opponents, gets to the rim and drops in a layup, while frequently drawing a foul as well.
“It comes from me watching a lot of highlights as a kid,” Moore said. “My favorite was always Kyree Irving. He’s always in the air doing twisting layups, and he was always my role model.”
One wrinkle that drives defenders crazy is Moore’s ability to make layups with either hand, and to switch from one hand to the other on his way to the rim.
He’s right-handed, so defenders try to force him to the left and take away his shot, but soon learn that it makes no difference at all.
“My dad, even as a kid, was always on me about using my left hand,” Moore said. “He always had me dribbling and shooting with my left hand.”
Moore is the first to admit that he’s far from a finished product as he prepares for college basketball.
One challenge has been becoming a more complete offensive player who can consistently hit outside shots, particularly from three-point range.
He’s definitely making progress, which was obvious when he hit three triples against both Marquette and Traverse City Central this season.
“It’s going well, but there is always room for improvement,” Moore said. “Having that weight on your shoulders, knowing you are the main scorer, means you are going to have to take more shots and do things that you didn’t do as much before. It’s helped me become a better basketball player.”
Wallace, who knows his role is to push his players to always be better, says the three-pointers have been better, but there are other challenges.
“The three balls have been better for him, but one thing he needs to be more consistent with is hitting his free throws,” the coach said.
An even bigger challenge for Moore, as the Rockets' leader, has been to become more vocal with his teammates, both on and off the court.
He is, by nature, a very quiet kid, but Wallace wants him to be a more take-charge player.
“It’s difficult coming out of your comfort zone,” Moore said. “I have always been the quiet kid, but now I’m in a leadership role and I’m the point guard, which means I have to tell people where they need to go. It’s been tough, but I want to get to that point where it comes naturally.”
Wallace gives Moore an incomplete grade when it comes to being more vocal. He says there has been real progress, but it has to come faster, for the team this year, and for Moore himself as he transitions to college.
“We need him do to leaps instead of steps, and he’s not there,” the coach said. “We try to help these guys with their goals, and when he hits that college campus, he’s going to have to be self-motivated, which he is, but as a potential point guard, he’s also going to have to have people follow him.”
It's still about the team
Unlike so many of the great players already on the R-P 1,000-point list, Moore knows he may not end his career as the leader of a championship team.
He still wants to go out on a positive note, however.
He believes the Rockets are a lot better than the way they have been playing, and will win a lot more games in the second half of the season.
“We are focusing on becoming more of a cohesive team,” Moore said. “We had some new transfers coming in, and some younger guys joining the team, and we haven’t been playing cohesive enough.
“I know once those guys get more comfortable, they are going to be great factors for this team. We have the talent. We are very athletic. We know we have work to do, and we are going to do it."
Moore is also very excited about the promising young sophomores on the roster - one who is already a varsity starter, and others who are still splitting time between the JV and varsity.
That group includes Hank Mitchelson, Rodney Walker, Artis Williams, Chris Shields and Jamichael Williams.
Moore said he’s trying to help them learn and grow into their roles, because they have the potential to form a special team down the road.
“I feel like me helping the future is me helping the people below me,” he said. ‘I know they are looking up to me and learning from me, so I want to be the best version of me I can be.
“Those first few games on varsity are always rough. They don’t have that confidence yet. Varsity is faster and everyone is taller. I experienced that as a freshman and sophomore. But I think they can learn quickly. They are very skilled and they’re going to be amazing in the future. I am excited to see it.”