Sedrick Altman:
SoCal hooper to make waves at Pepperdine

Sedrick Altman had a night to remember on Jan. 31.

The senior guard from Colony High School in Southern California started the day by announcing his commitment to Pepperdine University.

A few hours later, in front of his home crowd on senior night, he proceeded to drop a school-record 51 points in a blowout win over Alta Loma. It was a perfect way to end the regular season.

“It was amazing, the greatest night of my life,” Altman told Mars Reel. “To have my family there, everybody who cared about me, it was just an amazing feeling. I couldn’t ask for nothing else on senior night.”

While it may have been a story-book ending for the regular season, Altman understood that there was still work to be done.

Altman is an experienced winner, having helped Colony to a CIF Southern Section championship in 2017 as a sophomore. And the Titans have never lost a league game in the entire time he was at Colony.

But the ultimate goal was still unaccomplished. Altman hoped to finish his school career with another championship.

“A CIF ring and a state ring, just go out the best way I possibly can,” Altman said before the playoffs began. “Continue to lead my team all the way to the CIF championship. Just win a CIF championship.”

Altman was able to make good on half of that goal. The Titans took home their second CIF title in the past three years with a victory over La Canada in the CIF-SS Division 2A championship game.

That victory earned the Titans a spot in the CA state playoffs where they managed to get all the way to the Division 2 title game. They, unfortunately, fell short against Campolindo High School (Morago, CA), but it was still quite the season for Altman and Colony who had never before played for a state championship.

He was also recently named the CIF Division 2A Player of the Year, capping off what’s been a great year. Altman had some big scoring performances this season including a 40-point effort in state playoffs that put the Titans in the Regional Finals.

“My role is just to compete every night. Bring my wit and my grit, my leadership, and of course score the ball but overall just help the team win,” Altman said.

Although Altman is known for his scoring prowess, the defensive side of the ball is another area in which he excels. Whether that’s locking up his opponent one-on-one or even manning the paint and coming up with a block, he takes pride in his defense.

“Defensively, that’s where I get started. Whether it’s a block, settling down and locking up, I just use that as motivation for me and my team to get us going, I set the tone,” Altman said. “With a block, it’s just defense. I love playing defense, defense wins games.”

It’s that defensive intensity, as well as his penchant for scoring that eventually caught the eye of Pepperdine head coach Lorenzo Romar.

Pepperdine has some key guards returning on next year’s team in Colbey Ross, Jade Smith, and Darryl Polk Jr, but Altman is hoping he gets a chance to make an impact as a freshman.

Altman is confident in what he can bring to the Waves right away.

“It’s defense and scoring,” Altman said. “Now my jumper is there and getting to the next level, but on offense, it’s mostly getting to the rim and attacking.”

And as he prepares to go off to Pepperdine, and now that his high school career has come to end, Altman is able to reflect on all of it. Despite being a very talented player, he wasn’t highly recruited by Division 1 schools.

He kept pushing through, in hopes that one day it would all pay off. This chapter of his basketball career is over, but the next is yet to be written.

“It was progression, staying with it. Not getting depressed, not getting away from staying on course, and listen to the people around me,” Altman said. “It’s just been amazing, progress after progress and a motivation for other people to never quit and never give up on your dream.”

David Yapkowitz is a contributor for Mars Reel based in Southern California. You can follow him @Dave_Yapkowitz