HE SCORED 92 POINTS IN GAME?? LAMELO BALL
You"ve probably heard about it by now.You"ve probablyread about it. You"ve probablysatthrough at least some of the 15-plus-minute highlight clip of California high school basketball star LaMelo Ball"s 92-point performance.
The 6-1 sophomore, a UCLA commit and the younger brother of Bruins freshmanLonzo Ball, went 37 for61 from the field and even dropped seven assists to help his Chino Hills squad, ranked No. 8 in the most recent USA Today top 25 poll,to a 146-123 win against Los Osos on Tuesday night. Another Ball brother, Chino Hills senior LiAngelo, also a UCLA commit, didn"t play in the game.
If, somehow, you aren"t up on it, familiarize yourselfimmediately.
MORE: Ball dedicates 92-point game to girl who needs heart
LaMelo Ball,balling out the way he did, nearly getting his Wilt Chamberlain on and reaching the century mark in a game with eight-minute quarters, is extremely rare. In a 2015 piece, "A Blessing and a Burden: Why Scoring 100 Points in a Basketball Game Is Such a Controversial Achievement," Complex reported only 25 high school players inhistoryhave ever scored 100 points in a game.
If one player doing it is rare, two doing it on the same day might seem nearly impossible. But it happened.
On Jan. 16, 2001, a time before YouTube and Twitter, two prep stars, Camden (NJ) combo guard Dajuan Wagner and Heritage Christian Academy (TX)wing Cedrick Hensley, went for 100on the same night.
Wagner, then widely considered the nation"s top overall prospect along with fellow future preps-to-pros studs Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry, got more press. The son of Louisville legend Milt Wagner, Dajuan Wagner scored 100 on 42-for-60 shooting, including a school-record10 3-pointers in a 157-67 win against Gloucester Township Tech. He had 46 at the half and could"ve done more damage had he not exited the game with more than three minutes remaining.
You can watch the entire game here.
2017 NBA DRAFT: Lonzo Ball a top 5 pick in latest SN mock
It was the first time since 1979 thata high school player had scored 100 points in a game.
"A hundred is a magic number," a 17-year-old Dajuan Wagner told Sports Illustrated. "But scoring 100 was never a goal."
But Wagner wasn"t even the highest scorer that night, becauseHensley scored101.Hensley knocked down 46 of 59 attempts, hittingjust five 3-pointers on his way to the101-point night in a merciless 178-28 drilling of lowly Banff Christian.
"My teammates kept encouraging me," Hensley told ESPN way back when. "They told me how many points I had to go. I forgot to get the ball (after the game). ...I didn"t even think about it. I was just so tired."
FIELD OF 68: Syracuse bounces into tourney projections
Wagner finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in New Jersey high school basketball history with 3,462 points. Heplayed one season at Memphis, where his father was an assistant under then Tigers coach John Calipari, averaging 21.2 points and 3.6 assists per game and earning first-team All-Conference USA honors. He was taken by the Cavaliers with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. As a rookie, he averaged 13.4 points while playing 47 games, starting 24, but never regained that form after myriad injuries, including a colon condition that derailed his career by 2007.
Once dubbed the next Allen Iverson, Wagner"s 100-point game 16 years ago is the singular most memorable display he ever had on the hardwood.Hensley, a top 100 recruit out of high school, never came close to averaging doublefigures in three years at the University of Houston, but he"ll forever be a member of a hoops fraternity of which the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James can"t claim membership.
Bet your bottom dollar, the hot takeslamenting the lack of defense played and set pieces run in Tuesday night"s game, along with the thinkpieces on sportsmanship, are on their way. Thosetrains arenever late,but keeping it well, 100, a 16-year-oldscoring 92points is a feat at which to marvel regardless of the circumstances.
Who knowsthe next time we"ll see anything like it?
Source: http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/news/lamelo-ball-92-points-dajuan-wagner-cedrick-hensley-100-highlights-video/1rkvvyimgu8kg1i78qo9bkp4as
