THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Going Overtime to prove he belongs ... Timberlake High product Tyler Engelson gets opportunity to try out for elite basketball league in Georgia

Tyler Engelson has never been afraid of a challenge.

Not when some coaches told him he wasn’t going to be very good at basketball because he was too small.

Or having skills that, as he described, were once middle of the road.

Instead of listening to the doubts, Engelson got to work and will be looking to make his dreams come true in the coming weeks.

ENGELSON WAS one of 25 players nationwide selected to try out for Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league based in Atlanta for players age 16 to 20. Players earn a salary to compete in the league, but Engelson will not accept the money in order to maintain his college eligibility.

“I saw something on the news that they were looking for players,” Engleson said. “I put some info and highlights into their draft, and they reached out to me and invited me to come to tryout.”

Should the 6-foot-1 Engelson make it past the tryout, he’ll remain in Georgia for the next year.

“I’m not going to take the money and will play for free,” Engelson said. “I’ll end up using it as a prep school year.”

Engelson has already been told of some things that have caught the eye of the staff with Overtime Elite.

“They’ve watched a lot of film and they really like how much I want to win,” Engelson said. “A lot of the guys don’t want to win like I do. They really like the energy I play with and how I can score and shoot the ball offensively. They’ve never had a player from Idaho before, so I’ll be the first.”

Engelson has committed to play at Division III Hardin-Simmons in Abilene, Texas. Should he not be selected, Engelson will play for Hardin-Simmons.

“I had a few Division II offers and a good amount of NAIA offers as well,” said Engelson, who estimates he had 15 schools interested. “Overtime Elite has some of the best facilities in the country, better than some Division I programs. They’ve got the money and can help develop my skills and provide an opportunity to get better.”

Alex Sarr, who was selected No. 2 in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, is formerly of Overtime Elite. Amen Thompson (fourth by Houston) and Ausar Thompson (fifth by Detroit) were also high first-round picks in 2023.

“I’ll have a lot of chances to play with some guys that have the same goals and dreams that I do,” Engelson said. “If I go, I’ll be able to play with some guys that are training to play in the NBA.”

Engelson will leave for Georgia on July 26, with the tryout running July 27-29.

“I’m super excited,” Engelson said. “I really don’t know what to expect, but I’m prepared for it. I’m ready to do my best and excited for this opportunity.”

ENGELSON PLAYED as a freshman and sophomore at Priest River High before transferring to Timberlake for his junior and senior year.

“My freshman and sophomore year, I wasn’t very tall,” said Engelson, who was listed at 5-10 as a sophomore at Priest River. “I was just an average 2A player. But I just continued to weight train and was doing everything I could to be the best player I could be. I started growing and just really did whatever it takes.”

Engelson added that the unknown with the school levy in Priest River, with the district considering cutting sports or going to a pay-to-play system, weighed on the decision to transfer.

“We thought it would be a better opportunity,” Engelson said. “We really didn’t know what was going to happen and didn’t want to risk not having basketball.”

Timberlake went 6-16 during Engelson's junior year, and 9-11 his senior year — in a one-bid-to-state Intermountain League where the other team, Bonners Ferry, was a juggernaut that won state titles each of those seasons.

Engelson was selected for the state high school all-star game at North Idaho College, winning the 3-point competition and scoring 17 points, In the District 1 All-Star Game in Mullan, Engelson was named MVP after scoring a game-high 24 points.

“It was a rollercoaster of a season with a lot of ups and downs,” Engelson said. “We didn’t have the most talent, but we worked as hard as we could in each and every game. I was just happy with the way we went out. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but it was a really memorable season.”

Against Genesis Prep on Jan. 23, Engelson hit nine 3-pointers and scored 50 points as the Tigers beat the Jaguars 91-83 in double overtime. 

IN AN effort to get a few more games in, Engelson started an AAU team of his own, made up of teammates from Timberlake High and friends from Bonners Ferry and Mt. Spokane, to compete in area tournaments at The Warehouse in Spokane, as well as the CDA Summer Shootout.

“At first, I didn’t really know what to expect,” Engelson said. “But I just wanted to get some basketball games in. I knew a bunch of guys, but we didn’t really have a team that was close. I wanted to put a team together and got my dad Wade (a longtime assistant at Post Falls High and former Sandpoint head coach) to coach us. It was a lot of fun. There wasn't a lot of chances to play, but it gave us some good experience. It was super fun to play with those guys.”

“When he was younger, he was really small and playing AAU basketball,” Wade Engelson said. “He was told a lot of times that he wasn’t going to be very good. But he kept lifting and doing things in the gym to get better. For a kid from a small town in North Idaho to have a chance to try out is pretty cool. It’s a great accomplishment and kind of a miracle.”

As for the unknown of playing with the best of the best …

“There’s a little bit of nerves, but I really trust the work I’ve put in,” Engelson said. “Overall, I’m not that nervous and I’ve done a lot of big things with basketball.”

And it’s possible, the biggest is yet to come.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1206 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on ‘X’, formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.