A Nanaimo high school basketball player’s team was trailing in the fourth quarter – until he took control, smashed the school record for points, and led the way to a convincing win.
Jackson Tonsi of the Nanaimo Christian School Trail Blazers senior A boys scored 61 points in a 95-75 win against the Duncan Christian Chargers on Thursday, Jan. 13, on the road.
Nanaimo was behind by as many as six points in the fourth quarter until their Grade 10 phenom guard raised his game to another level.
“It was layup, layup, steal, layup, three-pointer, layup, three-pointer – it was a pretty incredible performance,” said Chris Russell, co-coach of the Trail Blazers.
Tonsi scored just four of his points in the first quarter of the game, missing some of his early shots. Russell said sometimes younger players, especially, will hesitate to keep shooting if they feel like their shots aren’t falling early.
“But I think he just trusted it…” the coach said. “I think that’s an example of perseverance, when it seems like things aren’t happening and then you keep going, feeling your shot out.”
The Trail Blazers got in foul trouble early in the game, so Tonsi was forced to shoulder more scoring responsibility, especially since the game was so close until the last few minutes. At that point, Russell said, the Blazers’ “bench was going crazy” and teammates needed to see how Tonsi was going to close out the game.
“[The Chargers] keyed on him, they just couldn’t stop him,” Russell said. “Towards the end there, everything he put up went in.”
Aside from Tonsi’s 61, Nanaimo also got 27 points from Calvin Vanderkooi.
NCS athletic director Breanne Quist said in an e-mail that prior to this week, the school record for points in a game was 38.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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