AUBURN — Edward Little’s John Shea scored his 1,000th career point in the Red Eddies’ 65-39 boys basketball victory over Scarborough on Friday.

Edward Little’s John Shea scores the 1,000th point of his career during Friday’s game against Scarborough in Auburn. RAM Sport Photography

With 1:16 remaining in the first quarter, Shea received the ball in the post, like he has hundreds of times before.

He drove baseline from the right side, dribbled around his defender and scored with his right hand to tally his 1,000th point.

Shea is one of three Edward Little boys to reach the milestone, joining Troy Barnies, who plays pro basketball in Ukraine, and Wol Maiwen, who transferred during the offseason to play at Franklin Pierce University.

“I was on the phone earlier today with Troy, and he just said play it like it’s another game. Don’t worry about all the other stuff,” Shea said. “I tried. Obviously, I was still nervous, because I know it’s there, but it happened.”

Shea entered Friday’s game six points away from 1,000. He hit two free throws with 3:36 left in the first quarter for his first two points. A couple possessions later, Shea scored a layup that made the lead 10-6 with 2:25 left.

“It’s been something that’s been built up, so we tried to just play and do what we do,” Edward Little head coach Mike Adams said. “I don’t think we did that (Tuesday) against Deering (in a 64-59 loss) or, really, over our last couple of games. We’re over the midway point of the season and we are just kind of maybe getting a bit sloppy with things. Our strength is us. I thought we did a better job of finding each other tonight, and that’s what we have to do.”

About a minute later, Eli St. Laurent pushed Edward Little (11-2) on the fast break and dished it to Shea for his 1,000th point with 1:12 remaining in the opening period.

The game was stopped to celebrate Shea’s accomplishment as the large crowd at Edward Little High School stood to applaud.

Edward Little senior John Shea (10) poses with his family, from left, father Chris, mother Bridget, sister Jenna and brother Joey, after Shea scored his 1,000th career point during Friday’s game against Scarborough in Auburn. RAM Sport Photography

Adams said that Shea reached the milestone in part because of his hard work in the offseason.

“I am really proud of him,” Adams said. “He’s been in our summer camp since he was in elementary school. In the summer time he’s at every single thing that we do. That’s not easy, nor is it fun sometimes. When you’re lifting at seven in the morning, or you’re using Prime 360 for their workouts with Toby and BJ Grondin. When it’s July and they’re wrecking you with their workouts, that’s not fun when your friends are sleeping or at a beach. John never missed those. He coaches our little kids in the summer.

“When you see hard work rewarded, that’s what the program has been built on. You can see kids commit to it and have success, and now kids can look up and see that that’s why he is good. I am really proud of him and I am happy he’s able to do it.”

Shea said many people have helped him throughout his career.

“Just the support I’ve had, from my coaching staff, to every single teammate I’ve had over my four years, even in my freshman year when I didn’t even play, Wol being a mentor to me, my family, my friends, everything about it,” Shea added. “My trainers, BJ, Toby, they all put me in a position to be successful.”

Soon after Shea was celebrated and photos were taken, Edward Little’s Patrick Anthoine hit a 3-pointer, and the Red Eddies took a 17-9 lead into the second period.

Shea finished with a game-high 19 points (giving him 1,013 in his career), while Anthoine added 18. Marshal Adams, who helped spark Edward Little’s offense with a pair of early 3-pointers, finished the game with 15 points.

“Pat is the X-factor for us,” Adams said. “He can do so many things. It’s a cliche, but he can score at all three levels, he had a breakaway dunk, and he’s worked really hard at getting two feet down and going up strong. No one that is guarding him can jump with him at that size, and so we want him going straight up instead of fading away. When he gets that going he’s a good 3-point shooter.

“Marshal is one of the best 3-point shooters in AA,” Adams added. “He’s shooting over 40 percent and he’s got over 60 threes made this season. We find him because that’s his skill and that’s what he’s spent thousands of hours perfecting.

“And Eli (St. Laurent), not to be forgotten about, he’s taking care of the ball. At the beginning of the year he was a struggling point guard, but now he’s one of the assist leaders in AA North. He’s done a great job of getting us into an offense and getting the ball where it needs to go.”

EDDIES PULL AWAY

Anthoine scored eight of his points in the second quarter, most of those coming from near the basket, including a fast-break dunk off a full-court pass from Shea that put the Red Eddies ahead 23-11 with 5:20 to play in the first half.

Edward Little’s lead grew to 29-16 by halftime.

The Red Storm (1-11) tallied their game-best 13 points in the third quarter — paced by five from Rowan MacDonald and four by Jack Simonton — but the Red Eddies’ balanced attack helped them add to their lead.

Anthoine and St. Laurent each scored four points, while Shea finished the quarter with five points thanks to a long outlet pass from Anthoine that led to an easy layup with three seconds left that made it 45-29 at the end of three quarters.

Shea then scored six points as Edward Little opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run, which was ended by a 3-pointer by Scarborough’s Nathaniel Glidden.

Anthoine drilled another 3-pointer, his third of the game, with five minutes left in the fourth. On the Eddies’ next possession, Adams hit his second 3 of the quarter and fifth of the game for a 60-33 lead, after which the Edward Little starters went to the bench for the remainder of the contest.

MacDonald, Simonton and Reid Deniso led Scarborough with nine points apiece.

Edward Little senior John Shea with head coach Mike Adams after Shea scored his 1,000th career point during Friday’s game against Scarborough in Auburn. RAM Sport Photography

Adams praised Shea for his post play and the other Edward Little players’ ability to get the forward the ball. 

“He scored 50 points his freshman year,” Adams said of Shea. “Extra playoff games help, but then he lost games his junior year. Again, I think not to be lost in all that is the commitment his teammates have made to get him the basketball. No one gets the ball in the post anymore, and it’s a lost part of the game, it’s not pretty and no one practices it.

“When we move the ball and get it to John Shea, when everyone knows he’s going to get it, for an easy shot, think about how hard that is for our guards to be able to do, and they do it. I am proud of him and them.”

Five Edward Little girls basketball players have scored 1,000 points: Ashlee Arnold, Tammy Paradie, Carolyn Brown, Brittney French and Kirsten Prue.