Atkins scores 1,000th career point
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » Friday night was a big game for the fourthseeded Watervliet boys basketball team, but Joey Atkins made the Cannoneers 66-63 win over Catskill even more special for himself and his teammates, scoring his 1,000th career point in the quarterfinal win.
“I wasn’t even worried about it, as long as we got the win, that’s all that mattered,” Joey Atkins said. “The 1,000 is good too.”
As a four-year player with Watervliet, the 1,000-point mark represents a body of work.
“It’s a lot of hard work and dedication through my whole high school career and I’m happy I got to do it tonight,” Atkins said. “My teammates they supported me the whole time and they didn’t let me forget about it, they told me the whole game.”
Needing just 15 points for the big mark, there wasn’t a doubt that Atkins would reach the milestone, it was that his efforts came at the right time, early in the second half after a disappointing first half by the Cannoneers.
“It was time for me to put my foot on the gas pedal,” Atkins said. “I’m the leader of the team, the oldest on the team and I didn’t want it to be my last game or my team’s last game either.”
The clock on Atkins’s final year continues to run, hoping to end even later in March, his coach Orlando DiBacco still remembers a much younger Atkins.
“We had Joey as a freshman and he was gangly, 6-3, big feet, long arms kid and he’s grown into his body and he works so hard,” DiBacco said. “I couldn’t be prouder of Joey to get his 1,000th point on a game we won.
“It’s a lot of credit to him, he worked on his game, and he’s progressed every year. He’s pretty dynamic and I’m very proud of him.”
Atkins’s 1,000th career point came as smooth as his jump shots from the top of the key Friday night, or a finger roll after a drive down the lane, he made it look easy.
“Joey’s not that kind of kid, he’s
not a high-volume shooter, he plays within the offense,” DiBacco said. “He moves the ball; he passes in transition, so for him that’s kind of his character.
“He’s just going to go out and play hard and if scores, he scores, but he does a lot of other things for us.”
Watervliet will now face Mekeel Christian Academy 8 p.m. Monday night at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. Watervliet lost their only meeting of the year, 65- 63, on Jan. 10.