Senior Nick Smith scored a career high of 49 points in one basketball game. (Photo by Gunnar Mangiantini/Student Contributor)
By GUNNAR MANGIANTINI
Student contributor
Redbank Valley sports history was made on Jan. 14, 2019, when Senior Nick Smith scored a career high of 49 points in one basketball game. Yes, 49 points!
In the game, Redbank Valley defeated Venango Catholic with a final score of 93-64. Smith broke the previous record of 44 points that was held by Shawn Crissman against Moniteau in 1991. Smith is the first player since Sam Heeter (42 points against Clarion in 2016) to score more than 40 points in a game.
When asked at what time in the game he realized he would have a high score, Smith said, “Towards the end of the game when someone told me how many points I had. Then I looked at the clock, seeing I had a lot of time left.” Once the team realized Smith had this opportunity, his teammates feed him the ball so he could take as many shots as possible.
Smith wants to thank his teammates because “they kept creating those shots for me, and I couldn’t have done it without them for sure.”
Smith finished the game with a monster night from the three-point line going 7/15 with 46.7% accuracy and going 6/9 from the free throw line. At the end of the game, Nick shot a percentage of 58.1%.
It is going to be great to see how the rest of Nick Smith’s season goes.
Gunnar Mangiantini is a student at Redbank Valley High School and a member of The Bark, the school’s journalism/publications group.
