Division IV’s top scorer Jack Schwab of Wilton-Lyndeborough kept up his torrid pace Tuesday night at Derryfield, and it was enough to propel him to the vaunted 1,000-point milestone for his high school career.
WLC’s senior guard, a lethal three-point shooter and shifty driver averaging 23.6 ppg, needed 23 points to hit 1,000, and in the fourth quarter, he grabbed a rebound off a missed three, turned around in the paint and hit a jumper to reach the milestone mark. After the game, he gave all the credit to his coaches and teammates from the past four years.
“My coaches and teammates, they had trust in me for making any shot, giving the ball to me at the end if we need a bucket, so I’d have to give it to them,” Schwab said.
WLC head coach Malin Segal, a 1,000-point high school scorer himself, knows just how hard it is to hit this mark; he inherited a good one when he took the team over this season.
“He’s been a great leader all year, so it’s awesome that he got this accomplishment,” Segal said. “It takes a lot of hard work and being an impact player from day one.”
Schwab has played for four different head coaches in four years, an incredible turnover rate for any high school team. Through it all, he’s been a steady scorer, steadily improving, and it started in his freshman year, when current ConVal head coach Leo Gershgorin took the reins for the Warriors and pushed the scrawny freshman to new heights.
“He told me I wasn’t a freshman anymore,” Schwab said. “I was playing a lot, I got into the game to shoot threes, that’s what I love to do, so I’m glad I could score a decent amount.”
Gershgorin’s been following his one-time ward’s career ever since.
“I’m so thankful for the opportunity I had to coach Jack,” Gershgorin said Tuesday night. “He has become not only a great player, but an incredible young man. He earned his tremendous honor through years of hard work and sacrifice.”
Unfortunately for the Warriors, Schwab’s milestone was the only bright spot during Tuesday’s 84-34 blowout loss at Derryfield, where the speedy Cougars out-rebounded, outran and out-hustled the Warriors up and down the court. Schwab finished with 24, but other than that, only Kyler Tremblay (four points) managed more than one bucket for the Warriors.
“Lacking effort, lacking energy, bad body language,” Segal said. “Tonight was not Xs and Os, so to fix that, we’re going to be very high energy tomorrow in practice and we’re going to fix that and get back on a winning streak, because six games in a row is too much.”
WLC (2-5) has the long trip to Pittsburg-Canaan (0-7) Friday night.
ConVal 77, Coe-Brown 73
Austin Knight came up huge down the stretch for the Cougars Tuesday night, hitting a pair of fourth-quarter threes to rescue ConVal from a late deficit and propel them to a win over the Bears.
Knight had a team-high 21 for undefeated ConVal; Del Bonsu-Anane added 18 and Mather Kipka had 15.
ConVal (6-0) is one of two undefeated teams remaining in Division II, along with Hanover (6-0). The Cougars host Plymouth (0-5) Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Mascenic 77,
Campbell 63
Sammy Stauffeneker dropped 25 on Campbell Tuesday night in Litchfield to lead four Vikings in double figures as Mascenic snapped the Cougars’ three-game win streak.
Zack Barthel had 18, Dylan Vaillancourt 15 and Gabe Turner added 11.
Joaquin Heller had 20 for Campbell.
The Vikings (7-1) have won five straight since their only loss at Monadnock on Jan. 3. Mascenic hosts Fall Mountain (2-6) Friday at 7 p.m.
John Stark 58, ConVal 41
ConVal fell to a tough John Stark team on the road Tuesday night, the Cougars’ third straight loss.
Julia Donovan led ConVal with 12 points; Emma Hixson had seven and Isis Battaglia scored six.
ConVal (3-5) is at Plymouth (3-4) Friday night and then hosts John Stark (7-2) for a rematch Tuesday.
Conant 73,
Mascoma Valley 12
The Orioles held the Royals without a point in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s defensively dominant 61-point victory as Conant improved to 11-0.
Eight Conant players had at least one basket in the game, led by Elizabeth Gonyea and Teagan Kirby, who had 21 points apiece.
The Orioles are running away with Division III; Fall Mountain (7-1) and Gilford (8-1) are their next closest competitors in the standings.
The victory was the third win by 50 points or more for the Orioles this season; Conant’s average margin of victory is 31 points.
Conant hosts St. Thomas Aquinas (7-2) Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Hinsdale 50,
Mascenic 45
Shelby Babin scored 27 points at Hinsdale Tuesday night but the Vikings couldn’t quite muster a road victory over the talented Pacers.
Annika Martel added 16 for Mascenic; Hinsdale got 25 out of Delaney Wilcox in the win.
Mascenic (6-3) hosts Profile (1-8) Friday at 5 p.m.