How a new 'family' found on a state championship team changed this Augusta-area player's path

Ahmad Hunt’s story is a little different, and that’s embodied by his most recent public Facebook post.

Back on March 12, not long after Cross Creek basketball won its second straight state championship in three years, the Razorbacks’ reserve guard shared his heart on the social media platform in a most direct way.

“Imagine waking up every morning for four years straight working out in the cold at a hotel because a private school said you was a problem for using the gym,” he wrote. “Then guarding the best players in the world on the weekends to not even being recognized as a good player in your own city.”

Hunt’s post went on to discuss his experiences from being a projected starter and standout to having to unfairly wear the “problem child” label despite never being in what some would consider “major trouble.”

Hunt’s high school basketball career was dogged by undesired transitions, difficulties with cohesiveness with coaches and the consistently nagging “what if” question.

What if he could’ve found a permanent home for four years?

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What if he could’ve stayed somewhere long enough to crack that team’s starting five and show in consistency what he was only able to display in flashes?

Hunt’s stat sheet — 3.4 points per game last year — doesn’t exactly paint a picture of dominance. But the brunt of his impact for coach Lawrence Kelly showed up when it mattered most.

The 5-foot-9 guard’s best moments came down the stretch of Cross Creek’s second Class AA state title season. And it was only fitting that, with just a few ticks left on the clock, Hunt’s last basket of his career — a free throw to seal a 60-53 win over Windsor Forest in the Class AA final — was also the last point scored in Cross Creek’s magical and somewhat improbable path to basketball supremacy.

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“They said I ran from hard work and wanted to take the private school route,” he wrote in that aforementioned Facebook post. “They also said me going to Cross Creek would be bad because I can’t play in a system with other great players.”

'They' were wrong.

“Ahmad was a tremendous asset for us all season, but he especially came up big for us in the state championship game,” Kelly said. “But he had good moments all throughout the season. It would’ve been tough for us to do what we did without the way he played.”

But Hunt’s play wasn’t just about what he added to the now two-time defending state champs. It’s about what he sacrificed for himself in order to be part of the team. To be a part of something much larger than himself.

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“He came to us and played somewhat of a supporting role, but in another system he could’ve definitely been a starter,” Kelly said. “One thing about Ahmad is he comes and competes every day. Whether it’s high school ball, AAU or a pickup game. He’s going to compete. We’re gonna miss the young man’s energy, but we know he’s going to go on from here and do great things.”

For Hunt, that next chapter of greatness began Monday when he signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Brewton Parker College in Mount Vernon, Georgia. It was a choice based on him seeing at Brewton Parker what restored his love for basketball at Cross Creek.

“I saw that (Brewton Parker) was a family, more so than from the other schools I visited,” Hunt said.

After everything Hunt went through in his high school career, the ability to find family after Cross Creek was vital. As for Kelly, hearing one of his now-former players refer to his program as a family is proof that the kind of culture he wanted to build at Cross Creek is firmly in place.

“Once a kid comes to Cross Creek, they become part of the family,” Kelly said. “I can’t speak for other programs, but when you look at guys like Ahmad, like Terrenice Streetman, Jayden Pack, you would’ve never known those guys weren’t here all four years. How those guys all came here and gelled together, you know, if someone says anything about us taking transfers, I just see it as someone taking notice of what we’re trying to do. And that’s help these young men achieve their dreams.”

For Hunt, that dream entails getting a good education and continuing to prove to himself and others that he can be more than just a role player on a championship caliber team.

“My high school career was bumpy for sure,” Hunt said. “But I knew I was always a star in a closet. I’ve always known that I’d secure a spot on someone’s college roster, being that my talent and the grades was there.”

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Along the way, Hunt learned that talent was just one very small piece of the overall recipe to basketball success. To be sure, he’ll be the first to acknowledge that playing for Kelly wasn’t a cake walk. But leaving high school as a champion can do a lot to shift one’s perspective.

“Going into my senior year, I didn’t trust the process or believe nothing the coaches were telling me,” he said. “But into the first round of the playoffs, I knew we had a clean shot on winning a title. My experience at Cross Creek has taught me to stay true to the grind and focus on what the coach is telling me. It don’t matter how good you are. If you don’t listen, nothing will matter.”

Hunt will major in business and sports and fitness administration, and he plans to use his time at the NAIA school to help his new family do some of the same things he experienced with his current family.

“My goals are very much the same as in high school,” he said. “Win games. Make everyone around me better and compete for a championship. I’ve had had programs from every division of college basketball reach out, so I know being able to move up levels or even going pro is something I can do.”

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Cross Creek's Ahmad Hunt signs to Brewton Parker College