By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Churchville-Chili’s Jason Gibbs etched his name in the school’s record books over the weekend.
The junior guard converted a layup in the fourth quarter to cap a 30-point performance. The offensive output raised his single-season total to 451 points breaking a three-decades old mark.
“I knew he was closing in on some accolades,” Saints’ head coach Tim Miller said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Jeff Mitchell set the Churchville-Chili boys’ single-season mark in 1990-91 with 449 points. Mitchell’s mark was established over 22 games. Saturday’s contest was the 19th of the season for Gibbs and C-C.
Miller pointed out that the results aren’t by accident or chance.
“His work ethic is unparalleled. Everything that he makes look easy on the basketball court is because of the work he puts in during the off-season and the work he puts in during the season. That’s why we’re seeing these performances.”
Saturday’s performance was the third time this season the 5-foot-10 guard scored 30 or more points in a game.
“We gear our offense toward his strengths,” Miller noted. “He’s one of the quickest guards we’ve ever coached here. A lot of his points come off transition. He gets a lot of steals, a lot of deflections. When he gets out in the open court, he’s dangerous. He’s moving faster with the basketball than kids are without. We’re not talking about slow kids either.”
VIEW MORE DENNIS JOYCE PHOTOS HERE.
Scoring better than 24 points per game and handing out 5.5 assists, Gibbs continues to produce despite the extra attention he receives from opposing defenses.
“He has the bullseye on his chest every night whether it’s a face guard or a box-and-one,” Miller said of the defenses Gibbs has faced. “It’s not like we can give him a three-or-four-minute rest. He’s out there for almost the entire game if not the entire game.”
Gibbs scored 11 in the first quarter during a recent game against Pittsford Sutherland. He opened with a 3-pointer before knocking down a pair of pull-up jumpers and then finishing a layup in transition. Sutherland head coach John Nally didn’t waste any time in adjusting his defense to shadow the movements of Gibbs.
“When he’s hot, he’s REALLY hot,” Nally said of Gibbs. “As a smaller guard his ability to finish at the rim might be the most impressive thing. He can obviously get his jump shot going but when you have to guard both it’s tough. He’s not afraid of playing to the contact, tough thing to teach.”
Fairport was able hold Gibbs to 16 points. The Red Raiders went 10 deep in the game and ran a fresh defender at Gibbs throughout the contest.
“Jason has an explosive first step which makes him very challenging to guard because you have to respect his shot,” Fairport head coach Scott Fitch said. “He is very good in transition.”
Miller first saw Gibbs play in fifth grade. The 12th-year coach knew then that he had a special player in his program.
“Even at a young age, you could see those qualities of leadership,” Miller said. “He set himself apart from everybody in that game just by the way he played. His skills were advanced for his age.”
Miller promoted Gibbs to varsity for his ninth-grade year. He spent practices playing against former Saints Kamerin Poromon, John Keele, Griffin Stella and Marcus Postell.
“That year of development of going to war with those kids in practice every day really helped him into what you saw last year as a 10 grader and now.”
That leadership is noticed by others.
“The most impressive thing to me is you can tell his teammates like him,” Fitch added. “You can see by the way he interacts with his teammates they respect him and play hard for him.”
Gibbs has 685 career points. He’s shooting 45 percent from the floor this season and averages better than three steals per game. Churchville closes the regular season Tuesday night against division-leading Webster Thomas. The Titans bring an 11-game winning streak into the contest. Miller noted how Gibbs is looking forward to the challenge.
“Jason is a competitor and does not like to lose and works so much harder just to put himself in a place where he can be successful. We’re able to compete because of having him lead the team.”
A 7:15 PM tipoff is scheduled at Churchville.
Leave a Reply