Everyone knew how many points R.J. Evans needed to reach 2,000 for his career Tuesday night but was the NFA senior forward counting?
Evans put down 14 of the 16 points that he needed in the first quarter and scored the first basket of the second quarter to reach the milestone rather quickly in a 74-49 win over Staples in the first round of the Class LL state tournament.
"I was just playing, I wasn't thinking about points or anything," Evans said. "I just came out playing and my team played did well."
"So happy," fellow guard Wes Murphy said. "He's one of my greatest friends and one of the best basketball players I have ever seen. I love playing with him."
2,000 points in a high school career may seem more commonplace now that both Evans and Stonington's Heather Buck reached that number this season. But both were the first in the history of their respective programs and both were only the second player ever to score 2,000 points in their schools. Alex Jensen reached the mark for Stonington, Krista Rappahahn for NFA.
"Tremendous accomplishment," NFA coach Neal Curland said. "Four years of hard work and he can score, there's no question about that. That's a lot of points."