Perry High’s Markus Howard (11) runs the fast break against Chandler High during the MLK Basketball Classic at Wells Fargo Arena on January 19, 2015.

Markus Howard is ready to step out of his comfort zone, leave behind his family and close friends and put himself in a place where the home arena is no bigger than the auxiliary gym at Gilbert Perry High.

All to begin a path that he hopes leads to his NBA dream.

“I can remember when he was 3 years old and taking a regulation basketball and crossing over between his legs, hitting the rim when the ball was bigger than his head,” Chuck Howard said about the youngest of his three sons.

Howard, the 5-foot-11, 16-year-old sophomore point guard, recently made the biggest decision of his young life to commit to Findlay Prep, following an unfamiliar path for talented high school basketball players in the Valley.

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He will be the second Arizona player to leave early for Findlay Prep, the mega prep basketball academy in Las Vegas.

Nick Johnson left Gilbert Highland after his sophomore year for Findlay Prep, which helped jump-start his University of Arizona career, leading to the Pac-12 Player of the Year honor and getting drafted last year by the Houston Rockets.

Howard will be on scholarship at Findlay Prep, getting a jump on college with intense training, structured tutoring, classwork and required chores. He and his teammates will be lodged in two homes that are supervised by coaches.

“When I get to college, I’ll basically be a junior going into college, because I’ve already gone through that process for two years,” Howard said. “It’s going to give me the full experience.”

Michelle Johnson, Nick Johnson’s mother, said she felt her son wasn’t going to get better scoring 30 points a game against Arizona competition.

“There were not a lot of people here to push him,” Michelle Johnson said. “You have a tendency to play down to your competition. You need to go where someone is better than you. That’s why we chose to go there. It was a great decision to go to Findlay Prep.”

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Findlay Prep is part of the Henderson International School, where the high school’s entire enrollment is the basketball team. There is a classroom setting with teachers, aides and demanding courses. Findlay Prep prides itself in qualifying all of its graduates to the NCAA.

It does not take Nevada players, but it will take the best of the best from all over the world.

Howard has Perry coach Joe Babinski’s blessing.

“If they feel that is the best move for Markus, I’m 100 percent behind it,” said Babinski, who rode the Howard brothers, Jordan and Markus, to the Division I semifinals two years ago and squeezed every ounce from Markus last season when he carried Perry before eventually running out of gas against eventual state runner-up Phoenix Desert Vista in the second round of the state tournament.

“He’ll play against a lot better competition that he will not get here,” Babinski added. “He’s such a great kid. But there are kids here who are ready to take off and will have a chance to blossom. Markus cast such a big shadow over everybody because he dominated the game. They would kind of sit back and wait for Markus to take over. We have a good group coming back. With Markus, I thought we’d be a final four team.”

Home games at Findlay are inside of a gym where there is one row of bleachers. But when it plays Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman in a big venue, the game attracts crowds in the thousands.

There are out-of-state trips. Last season, the Pilots played in the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic in Massachusetts and in the Flyin’ to the Hoop showcase in Ohio.

“When you play against the best, not only in practice but in games, it really elevates your game to the next level,” Howard said. “Nothing is going to be handed to you, so I’m looking forward to earning my spot.”

Findlay Prep, formed by UNLV booster Cliff Findlay in 2007, has produced 10 McDonald’s All-Americans and seven NBA players, accumulating a 252-17 record, six national tournament final four appearances and three national championships in eight years.

Bordow: Wishing Howard would have stayed at Perry

The Pilots have been making runs through the Valley the last couple of seasons.

Usually, they’re routs, but Marc Beasley, owner of Monarch Sports, which puts showcases together in the Valley, said the attention and interest in high school basketball in Arizona that Findlay Prep attracts is immeasurable.

“For a long time, (Steve) Hogen and I thought Arizona high schools couldn’t play them (Findlay Prep),” Beasley said, referencing the Mesa Public Schools Athletics Director. “But they’re an associate member of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association. That’s how they’re able to play Arizona high school teams.”

But Findlay Prep can’t play for Nevada championships. It plays in the National High School Invitational Tournament that draws the giants, such as Oak Hill Academy (Virginia), every year, and gets ESPN coverage.

Howard, who led Arizona and the country for sophomores in scoring last season with 32.4 points per game (according to MaxPreps.com), is finishing the school year at Perry.

His minutes at Findlay Prep aren’t guaranteed. He thrives on that challenge.

“I will miss out on a lot of things in Gilbert, but I feel this will be the best opportunity for me to move forward and develop my game and get ready for the college level,” Howard said.

Shadow Mountain Athletic Director Michael Warren, who helps lead the basketball team, says that Shadow Mountain is scheduled to play Findlay Prep again next school year at Scottsdale Rancho Solano Prep, a Findlay sister school.

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“We think we’ve got pretty good players and we want our kids to be subjected to the best possible schedule,” Warren said. “If they want to get to the next level, this is the next level.”

Michelle Johnson said she believes that Howard will be even more prepared for college with this transition, after seeing the same happen for Nick.

“You have to be a certain type of kid, who eats, breathes, sleeps and lives basketball, who has to make time for your studies and be willing to do that away from parents,” Michelle Johnson said. “You’re missing high school proms. You’re missing things. You have to be super focused and motivated. (Nick) was that kid.”

Chuck and Noemi Howard believe they have that kid, one who was toughened as a child by relentless backyard battles with his brothers.

“It just makes sense for him,” Chuck Howard said. “Sometimes, you make a decision and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ But this one was clear, ‘Yes, it’s the right decision.’ “