Greencastle's Casey Hoover scores 1,000th point
Free throw after free throw helped Greencastle-Antrim senior Casey Hoover tick ever closer to a milestone bucket.
Heading into Monday night's boys basketball game against Northern York, Hoover needed only 12 points to score the 1,000th of his career.
After a layup midway through the first quarter, Hoover couldn't seem to find the bucket from the floor. He got a lot of free throws, though.
"I thought it was going to just be 12 free throws in a row," Hoover said. "But I was hoping that's not how it went down."
When the first half came to a close, Hoover needed three more points, and it seemed kind of fitting that it may come from beyond the arc.
That's exactly what happened. After teammate Bryan Gembe missed a 3-pointer of his own, Ian Gelsinger grabbed the rebound a quickly snuck a pass over to a wide-open Hoover. He drained it, and the crowd went wild.
"That was pretty much drawn up to play," Hoover said. "They kept saying they were going to feed me until I got it, and they were all talking about who they wanted to get the assist. I think it came from Ian, but it ended well for me."
Hoover immediately ran over to hug his father, Greg Hoover, a former longtime superintendent at G-A, and a slew of family members.
"You get into coaching because you can't play anymore and you want to stay in sports," Blue Devil coach Rick Lewis said. "What you find out very quickly is it's about relationships. You get to know a family, and you get to know a kid, and to have them achieve is thrilling."
Casey Hoover's journey to 1,000 points has been a long one. Starting as a freshman, Hoover's natural position is point guard, making him less of a scoring threat, especially with Joel Zola around. Zola was G-A's last 1,000-point scorer.
But Hoover kept at it, and claimed the milestone in Monday's 69-52 win over the Polar Bears.
"It is hard work; you can't just walk out on the court and do it," Hoover said. "I was lucky enough to play AAU a lot, and that's what helped me get to where I am now. I was also lucky to start as a freshman and play four years. That's huge. But if you want to get it, you just have to keep working and working. Listen to your coaches, and you can't do it without your teammates."
Moving forward, Hoover now has this monkey off his back. Now, he said, the Blue Devils can focus solely on the season and advancing to the District 3 playoffs.