Anderson becomes 10th in Hightstown history to score 1,000 points
HIGHTSTOWN » Jamal Anderson caught the ball in stride, lined up his feet on the right wing and swished a historic 3-point shot that forever etched his name in Hightstown boys basketball lore.
The senior guard scored a game-high 29 points in a 59-54 loss to Hopewell on Tuesday night, becoming the 10th boy in school history to surpass 1,000 career points.
The game was momentarily paused with 5:22 left in the second quarter as teammates mobbed Anderson and the gymnasium erupted to celebrate the moment during Hightstown’s first home game of the season.
“It’s an honor. I just wanted to bring my name to our school again,” Anderson said. “I’m happy it happened at home.”
Anderson achieved the feat in 49 games. He is only the third Ram to reach the milestone since 2000 — the first since Cory Smith in 2009.
“Not only is he our best offensive player, he’s also our best defensive player,” head coach Matt Durstewitz said. “He’s just willing to go out there and play basketball and do what it takes to help the team. He’s very unselfish. It’s great when you have someone achieving that milestone and also being the best teammate on the team as well.”
Despite being an undersized 5-foot-9 guard, Anderson possesses plenty of core strength and is a dynamic player. He made a career-high six 3-pointers Tuesday.
“He’s really good at absorbing contact and finishing at the basket,” Durstewitz said. “And during the offseason he really worked on his 3-point shot.”
Anderson said his scoring prowess stems from a defensive mindset.
“I just like to lock in on defense. That’s my main thing — I love defense,” he said. “I try to get my energy from defense and then just attack, attack. I don’t back down from anybody.”
In a competitive contest between two of the most improved teams in the CVC so far this season, Hopewell pulled away in the third quarter behind a 10-0 run.
Rob Wiley notched a team-high 21 points. Drew Brodine (15 points) and Alex-Calhoun Mummert (12 points) also finished Hightstown’s Jamal Anderson (holding ball) celebrates scoring his 1000th point with his teammates.
in double figures as the Bulldogs played more composed and handled the ball better than the Rams down the stretch.
“We knew that coming in here would be a tough environment,” Hopewell head coach Matt Stein said. “Hightstown is wellcoached, very aggressive. So being strong with the ball, running our stuff.”
Neither team shot well from the foul line — Hopewell 5-of-12 and Highstown 5-of-13 — but the Rams committed more turnovers and made costly mistakes in transition.
“We’d turn the ball over and they would come down and score. Or we would gamble and try and get a steal, or help and not recover, and they would hit an open 3,” Durstewitz said. “It was discouraging because that’s exactly what we felt could happen, and then watching it happen is disappointing.”
Anderson’s layup with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter pulled the Rams within five, and Ben
Simon’s 3-point play with 26 seconds left made it a 56-54 game.
But after Hightstown was forced to foul with 18 ticks remaining, Brodine made two big free throws to help Hopewell seal the win.
“They’re one of the best teams in the CVC,” Durstewitz said. “They don’t make mistakes. We were able to get ourselves close at the end by forcing a couple turnovers, and maybe we should’ve tried putting a little pressure on them early. But they know how to take advantage of the situation that is presented to them.”
Stein described the defensive challenge of containing Anderson as “very tough.”
“He was knocking down his outside shots, taking it to the basket,” Stein said. “He’s shooting about 90 percent from the free throw line, so you can’t foul him. He’s just an allaround great player. Defensively, he was all over Alex Mummert. He was
making him work. He’s one heck of a player.”
Anderson said he never thought about the possibility of scoring 1,000 points when he first started playing varsity basketball two years ago as a sophomore. He just wanted to help the program win any way he could.
“I guess scoring is one of those things to help us win,” Anderson said with a smile. “It’s a lot off the court, too. Other than playing basketball, I’ve got to ice up, rest, take care of the body. There’s a lot it takes to score 1,000 points. It’s not easy. It’s a lot of hard work.” Milo De Los Santos 2-1-6, Brodine 6-3-15, Calhoun-Mummert 5-12, Wiley 10-0-21, Mintz 1-0-3, Hare 1-0-2.
25-5-59.
Totals —
Anderson 10-3-29, Owens 3-0-6, Simon 2-2-6, Ragland 3-0-6, Clark 1-0-2, Felizor 1-0-2, Vista 1-0-3.
21-5-54.
Totals — Hopewell (7-1) 13 Hightstown (4-2)12 3-point goals — 16 16 23 16 7 — 10 — 59 54
Milo De Los Santos, Calhoun-Mummert, Wiley, Mintz (HV), Anderson 6, Vista (HT).