By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Dr. Buckets wants to fill up the hoop to the tune of 1,078 shots converted next Friday night and score a Guinness Book new world record for 3-pointers made in one hour.

DB is actually Ryan Martin, varsity boys’ basketball coach at Lake Region High School. He is shooting to displace Daniel Loriaux, who set the current record of 1,077 back in June 2012 in Oregon.

The idea to chase this particular record came totally by chance.

“I was messing around shooting with one of my friends (Nick Beauchesne) in late May. We just started counting all of my makes in a row. I got up to 104 threes in a row, which I’ve never made that many threes in a row in my life, that I know of. After I missed, Nick said I should go for a world record,” Ryan said. “So, we looked it up and that night I applied.”

Five days ago, Ryan took a “test run.” First, he calculated how many made 3-pointers were needed in a minute to eclipse 1,077. It takes 18 shots per minute. Then, Ryan wanted to find out how many shots he could hoist, realistically, in a minute — it was 22.

“So, I have to go 18 for 22 on average for a full hour. Wow. I was like, ‘it’s doable.’ I think I can shoot 82% for an hour,” he said.

During the trial run, Ryan had four assistants — two rebounders, someone catching the returned balls, and another feeding the ball from the rack to Ryan, who positioned himself at the top of the 3-point arc — a spot he remains at for the full hour.

“It’s truly about being as efficient as possible. Efficient with how many shots I can get up but also efficient with me saving as much energy as possible per shot. There’s really a formula to this,” he said. “I was extremely close to getting it.” Ryan dropped 1,056 treys in one hour.

What Ryan wasn’t sure about was how would he hold up both physically and mentally.

“Who the heck shoots for an hour? I hadn’t. I underestimated the difficulty of that,” Ryan said. “I remember there were certain times where I’d look at the scoreboard and see how much time I had left. Once, I looked and it was 35 minutes left. I thought about stopping. I convinced myself to go 5 more minutes. For some reason, I kept going.”

With 23 minutes left, Ryan developed a bad left calf cramp. He worked through it, and realized he definitely needed a game plan to get through the physical rigors of this challenge.

“I learned a lot from my first test run. I’m so glad I did it. Number one, I realized how hard it is physically. I’m going to prepare myself better by stretching and hydrating better before the event,” Ryan said. “After the test run, my legs felt horrible. I laid out in the parking lot for an hour and a half. I had a cramp in my quad, it was unbelievable. I didn’t think that it would be this hard. I’m barely jumping, just shooting. But to do something for a straight hour, it gets to you. I exercise every day, but after the test run, it’s been five days and I’m still recovering. I’ll be ready for next Friday.”

Even the guys feeding basketballs to Ryan were physically drained.

His team will include Beauchesne, who will utilize a microphone to update Ryan shots made and whether he is on pace.

Several cameras will be in place — behind the backboard to track made shots and be sure Ryan is behind the 3-point stripe, as well as the scoreboard to chart made hoops and time — to record the record chase.

Ryan’s brother-in-law is a health coach, and will offer him some tips to best prepare for the world record attempt.

Once a sharpshooter, always a sharpshooter

Ryan Martin lived and breathed basketball. Hoops has been his life for as long as he can remember.

After a storybook high school career at Maranacook, where he helped lead the Black Bears to two state titles — there should have been a third, Ryan feels, but a perfect 18-0 season was shockingly derailed by a first-round exit courtesy of a Number 8-seed — Ryan advanced to the next level, Division 1.

“I always wanted to play Division 1 basketball. That was my goal. People always told me I couldn’t, so that was always something that drove me,” he said.

He thought about attending the University of Vermont, but ultimately stayed home and signed on with the UMO Black Bears. The fit, ultimately, wasn’t the right one.

“I played a little bit. I had a stretch where I was first off the bench, but I didn’t get the minutes I wanted. It had nothing to do with the coaches. The coaches were great. It was more on me,” Ryan said.

At times, there was doubt whether he belonged.

“I started to listen to the people who said I wasn’t big enough to play at that level. I started to think, ‘Maybe I can’t.’ I think that’s what was the difference in me playing or not,” Ryan recalled. “I wish I was older mentally when I was 18 and 19 years old. It was a mental game for me. I just didn’t want to sit on the bench anymore. I just wanted to play.”

Ryan found the ideal fit, transferring to Keene State. There, he was an integral part of a championship program, which included a victory over the Number 1 team in the country. Two straight years, Ryan lead the nation in free throw percentage at 96 and 94%. After three years there, Ryan was drafted to play in the National Basketball League of Canada, which was founded in 2011, picked by the Prince Edward Island Storm.

“The cool thing about that was I was the only Division III player that got drafted. I remember looking at the (draft) board at all of the names of players who came from schools like Syracuse and UConn,” he said. “It really dawned on me how much of a mental game basketball really is. I just didn’t know as a teenager how to fight through. I put the time in, and I was good enough to play at that level.”

Ryan went on to play for two other teams, but found his hoop career cut short by a hip injury in 2015.

“It was an overuse injury,” said Ryan, who ultimately had surgery on both the left and right hip. “They (doctors) told me that playing basketball every day wasn’t in my best interest for my future.”

After surgeries, Ryan put the basketball down and went six to seven years without playing a game he had built his life around. His love for basketball led him to coaching.

“I wanted to stay around the game and I love being around kids. I love teaching too. So, coaching was something I always knew that I was going to do when I was done playing. I just didn’t figure I was going to be done that early,” Ryan said. “I thought maybe 35, but instead I was done at 25. My body pretty much shut down where I couldn’t play basketball every single day. It was tough to give up. It was my life. I don’t know if there’s anyone that can say they put in more time at basketball than I did. It was to the point my mom wasn’t happy about it. I was obsessed. It was all I thought about, and all that I did. I just wanted to be the best player I could possibly be. I over-trained. I did a little too much.”

He now channels that passion and energy into coaching, presently at Lake Region High School, and playing an occasional men’s league game.

The sound of a basketball bouncing on the hardwood and the “swish” of the net as a 3-point shot falls through is music to Ryan Martin’s ears.

The tune of 1,078 treys netted in one-hour next Friday night, Aug. 9 will sound even better. The public is welcome to attend the shoot-out, which starts at 5 p.m. in Nutting Gym at LRHS. Admission is free, however donations will be accepted — benefitting the Laker basketball program.

For those who are unable to attend, but wish to watch, they can subscribe to the live stream at www.youtube.com/@ryanmartin5846

And, what is the story about the nickname Dr. Buckets?

“Nick (Beauchesne) just came up with it,” Ryan said. “It’s because I get buckets, meaning I can score, and I’m a doctor, who can help/coach people to get buckets too.”