By Garrett Hemmerich
WEST MILFORD – Senior Highlander guard Josiah Basket recently became just the seventh boys’ basketball player in West Milford High School history to reach 1,000 career points.
“I’ve been around the West Milford basketball program for most of my life and knowing that I am now one of seven players to reach the mark is special,” Basket said in an interview with NorthJersy.com after reaching the milestone. “It means a lot to me as well as my family.”
Basket needed only four points to reach the milestone entering a Jan. 10 contest against Lakeland Regional and he didn’t waste any time, surpassing the mark in the opening minute.
He finished with a game-high 22 points in the blow-out win.
Each year, a number of high school players throughout New Jersey join the “1,000 Point Club,” but it’s an impressive accomplishment nonetheless.
It requires a lot of hard work and support from the team.
“I knew it was going to happen in the first few weeks of the season,” Basket said in the NorthJersey.com interview. “Everyone kept telling me in the preseason how close I was. But it feels great to finally get it.”
Basket actually becomes the second member of his family to reach the 1,000-point mark for the school, as his older brother Luke accomplished the feat back in 2014.
Luke Basket finished his high school basketball career with 1,272 points.
Both Luke and Josiah, as well as four other Basket brothers, all played basketball for the school under veteran head coach John Finke.
The other West Milford boys’ basketball players that the two Basket brothers join in the “1,000 Point Club” are Josh Bigelow (1993), Tyrese Griffin (1996), Justin Sofman (2006), Tom Pegel (2015), and Andrew Finke (2018).