Making moves: Tommy Randolph adjusting from 2A to 6A on surging Pinnacle basketball team

Tommy Randolph has made a lot of moves since the summer. He played for Phoenix Christian's basketball team in the June Section 7 in front of college recruiters. He left and moved in with Braylon Johnson's family and enrolled at Pinnacle in north Phoenix for his senior year.

He lived in his car for a day, after the Johnson family had to suddenly go to Pittsburgh to deal with a family emergency for three weeks.

This week, Braylon returned to the Pinnacle basketball team. In the meantime, Randolph had moved in with another Pinnacle family, former football star Duce Robinson's parents, according to basketball coach Charlie Wilde.

Randolph said he caught COVID at the same time the Johnson family had to leave. That made it harder to find a new place.

"At first, it was a little rough because I also caught COVID at the same time," he said. "It was hard to find a place. I kind of jumped around, ended up sleeping in my car for a day. But one of the assistant coaches here took me in. That was really great, He's been helping me out with a lot of stuff, getting back in the gym, finding my flow, finding my rhythm again."

Just when Randolph felt he was back, the 6-foot-3 guard injured his ankle in a game against Chaparral earlier this week.

But Randolph, whose mother died early in his high school career, feels good about where his life is now and where he hopes it will take him next.

He has a couple of Division II offers and hopes his play on the court in the 6A competition will raise his stock enough to get a chance to find a Division I college in the spring, willing to offer him a scholarship.

"It's been nothing but a blessing," Randolph said about the Pinnacle community embracing him. "They are amazing people. They want nothing but the best for me. They all offered to open up their home to me."

Randolph left a solid support system at Phoenix Christian, where he was brought in by Denise Ebert after his mother died in the summer before his sophomore year. For 13 years, she's been a volunteer for Heart For The City, a refuge for at-risk kids in Phoenix. His mother was working various jobs to survive and they never knew where they would be living next when Randolph was a youth, going from place to place in south Phoenix.

His story was documented by The Arizona Republic last season.

Ebert's family gained custody of him, providing food, clothing, shelter and health insurance. But last summer, Randolph decided to leave.

Randolph, 18, said he wanted a change.

"I had the right people in my corner and they were offering to help and I took it in," Randolph said.

With Pinnacle fighting for him through the transfer hardship, Randolph was granted full eligibility to start his senior season from the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

After that went through, Phoenix Christian coach Ben Stryczek, who helped Randolph after his mother died, said he wished Randolph the best. Randolph averaged 26 points last year leading Phoenix Christian to the 2A semifinals.

"I'm happy to hear that he's going to be able to showcase his gifts and talents," Stryczek told The Republic in October. "I love him like a son."

After missing the first week due to contracting COVID, he's made a big splash, showing how easy a transition it was moving from 2A to 6A competition. He had 27 points in last week's 98-97 win over a Desert Mountain team that has the potential to make a run to the Open Division state final with the House twins — Kaden and Kalek — leading them.

A last play was called for Randolph to take the shot, but he was well-covered and Randolph found senior guard Christian Wells in the corner for a last-second 3 to win it.

"If anything, you're finding out how good he really is," Wilde said. "He's still dusting off a little bit of rush, because he was out the beginning of the year. But he's coming around really good, and fitting in perfectly.

"He loves playing with these guys."

Randolph is nursing an ankle injury now. But he's looking forward to joining the 6-foot-7 Johnson in games. Johnson is the brother of former Suns guard and current Brooklyn Nets player Cameron Johnson.

Johnson said it was "up in the air' on whether he'd be back at Pinnacle this year. But coming back this week, playing in his first game, he said he feels like he's never left.

He looks forward to teaming up with Randolph.

"He's a great scorer, a great passer, he really gets the job done," Johnson said. "Whatever you need him to do, he'll do it."

Wilde said Pinnacle kept the AIA aware of the Johnson family emergency and cleared him to play after coming back from Pittsburgh.

Wilde said that after Johnson left, "five families were ready to take (Randolph)."

"Everybody embraced him," Wilde said. "And when that happened (with Johnson), we had offers, knowing the situation. We felt like that would be the best situation for him. They (Robinson family) called us. They've done that before."

Randolph said he never imagined the transition from 2A to 6A would be this smooth for him on the court.

"I put in the work," he said. "I put a lot of shots up. I had a lot of different people who believed in me and gave me the confidence to believe in myself."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tommy Randolph adjusting from 2A to 6A transition on Pinnacle HS team