With the stroke of a pen, Grayson Thomas’ basketball career at Greenfield High School came to an end on Saturday. Thomas made it official, signing to play basketball and attend St. Andrew’s School in Barrington, R.I. starting in the fall.
Thomas just ended a historic scoring season for the Green Wave, finishing the season with 690 points for the Green Wave. He finished his career with 1,328 points. Thomas began visiting St. Andrew’s last spring.
“I like their culture and their style of play,” Grayson Thomas said. “The coaching staff. Everything there is very nice.”
With the move to a different state, Thomas will have to say goodbye to friends and family in the Greenfield community in the fall. He will make the two-hour trip often to come back and visit as often as possible.
“It’ going to be sad, pretty emotional,” Thomas said. “But it’s for the best. I am going to miss everyone a lot.”
St. Andrew’s is a small school with just over 200 students on a 100-acre campus. The campus is near the ocean. According to the school’s website, the base tuition is $49,500 with additional fees for boarding and other accommodations. Thomas will receive significant aid for playing basketball for the Saints.
“He’s getting a good chunk to go there,” Greenfield coach Angelo Thomas said. “It makes it worth our while to send him there.”
Angelo Thomas will watch his son and leading scorer leave his Greenfield team.
“We started this process last April,” Angelo Thomas said. “We fell in love with the campus and the surrounding town. The smallness of the campus. The smallness of the classrooms. The coaches really took a super big interest into Grayson. We felt good about making the decision.”
St. Andrew’s plays up-tempo and likes to shoot from deep. The style fits with what Thomas wants to do on the floor. Michael Carter-Williams, who last played for the Orlando Magic from 2019-2023, went to St. Andrew’s before playing college basketball at Syracuse.
“Historically they have been really good,” Angelo Thomas said. “The style of play that they play is really conducive to Grayson. They like to get up and down the court and shoot threes.”
Mike Haggerty is an Associate Head Coach for the Saints. The Saints became aware of Thomas while he was playing AAU.
“We really love his moxie and his confidence,” Haggerty said. “And obviously his shot making ability…really appreciate how hard he works on his game.”
While he is proud of his son, Angelo Thomas the coach is losing an all-time great scorer on his roster.
“It’s super sad,” Angelo Thomas said. “I am giving up my son at 16 years old. If he stayed around here next year, I think we would be the favorite to win a state championship. Selfishly, I would want him to stay but it’s not about me.”
In his first year at St. Andrew’s, Thomas will reclassify and begin his career as a sophomore with his new school.
“It’s not about Greenfield socially or academically,” Angelo Thomas said. “It’s just that he needs to be challenged more. Like Cooper Flagg’s mom would say, ‘if you are the best player in the gym, you need to find a new gym’.”
Several players on the current roster at St. Andrew’s have scholarship offers from Division 1 schools. The gym at St. Andrew’s gets regular visits from college coaches.