Chris Jean-Pierre Reaches 1,000 Points
The Valley Regional boys’ basketball team won a close encounter at home versus Morgan by the score of 54-50 on Feb. 6—a night which featured Chris Jean-Pierre hitting the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Needing eight points to reach 1,000, Jean-Pierre knocked down a three-pointer early in the second quarter to put him over the top. Jean-Pierre said he was honored to accomplish such a feat and ultimately finished the night with 20 points, six rebounds, two blocks, and a steal in helping the Warriors hang on for a victory in a game that hung in the balance through the final minute.
“It’s really special knowing that I’m amongst a list of greats such as Taylor Rioux, Jonathan Luster, and Mitchell King,” said Jean-Pierre, who finished with week with 1,023 points. “I think it’s a really special honor and I’m blessed to have that opportunity.”
The game was stopped for a few minutes so the 6-foot senior captain shooting guard could celebrate with his parents, Rachelle and Fitzgerald, in the stands and give them the ball he used to score point No. 1,000. Warriors’ Head Coach Kevin Woods said that Jean-Pierre’s achievement is a special one.
“It’s an awesome accomplishment, especially when you got guys like [former Valley Regional basketball standout] Jonathan Luster that was in front of him where playing time was hard to come by and he had to fight and claw to get that playing time and to crack into that lineup,” said Woods. “The guys in front of him were so good that it was tough to get that playing time. So for him to get a thousand points within his career and within this team, that’s very impressive.”
Woods knows all about winning, having guided Valley Regional to two Class S state championship wins through the past four seasons. And just like so many times in recent years, the Warriors found a way to file one under the win column against Shoreline Conference foe Morgan, even though it may not have been the prettiest of victories.
Woods’s squad survived a frantic final two minutes to squeak out a 54-50 win over the Huskies (9-7) in Deep River. After the Warriors had recently taken defeats to Ledyard (81-69) and Hyde (73-72), their triumph snapped the brief losing streak and gave them their 11
th
victory of the season. Valley then improved to 12-4 overall and 11-2 in Shoreline Conference play with a 69-38 home win against Westbrook on Feb. 7.
Coach Woods said his veteran-laden team is capable of competing at a much higher level than the one it played at against Morgan.
“We had good and bad moments. I’m not thrilled with the way we played, but it’s something we’re trying to work out,” he said. “The last couple games we got away from our defensive principles; we got guys out of position. Morgan made some good plays, too, so give them credit, but we’re not playing defense the way we’re capable of playing right now.
Morgan was nearly able to pull off the upset and avenge its 52-35 home loss to Valley Regional in January. The Huskies, who had won four straight games entering this contest, held a 43-42 lead heading into the final quarter and had several chances in the closing seconds to win the game or send it to overtime.
With Morgan trailing by two with under 30 seconds left in the game, Huskies’ guard Dylan Ketch took three from the corner that looked to be right on line, but instead rimmed out. Valley gave the ball right back to the Huskies after missing a free throw, although Gabe Eriksen’s lay-up attempt had a little too much force behind it, leading the ball to again rim out with two seconds left in the game. Two made free throws later by senior Hunter Linfesty allowed the Warriors to walk out of their home gym with a win. Junior Nash Eppard scored 14 points and added eight rebounds with four steals and two blocks for Valley, which was further bolstered by 10 points and two steals by senior captain David Bradbury.
Woods, who has been the head coach at Valley Regional for six years, said that “most important, we got the win,” but added that his team has some late-game composure issues it needs to address and hopes his experienced squad learns from its mistakes.
“We’re a seasoned team and a veteran team. We’ve been in huge games and big spots and we’ve been very composed,” Woods said. “Tonight was not our best under-two-minute execution. It wasn’t perfect. We missed free throws, committed turnovers, and that’s unacceptable in this kind of game.”
While acknowledging his personal achievement and celebrating the win, Jean-Pierre said he agrees with Coach Woods that the Warriors have to play better if they want to make a deep run in the postseason.
“We have to look at the things we did wrong and try to fix those,” said Jean-Pierre. “We know we didn’t really play good defense today, but we’re going to fix that and try to get back on a winning streak.”
Earlier in the week, Valley took a 73-72 defeat at Hyde. The Warriors were down 15 points in the third quarter and trailed by eight with 40 seconds left before using a three by Bradbury and lay-up from Eppard to make it a one-point game. Hyde missed two free throws with 15 seconds left, Jean-Pierre drove to the hoop and passed to Phil Dee, who missed a three from the corner, after which Evan Smith was unable to convert the put-back as the Warriors took the one-point defeat. The good news is that Valley still led Hyde by a game for the best record in the Shoreline Conference at week’s end. Jean-Pierre scored 18 points to complement his five boards and five assists, Eppard scored 20 and pulled down 12 rebounds, Bradbury had 16 points and five assists, Smith scored 10 to go with two steals, and Linfesty had three blocks.
“We ran into a team that was fired up for us and really wanted the game,” said Woods. “We wanted it; don’t get me wrong. There’s no quit in our kids and we did an incredible job of coming back, but we were very flat to start the game and that kind of carried through three quarters.”
Then hosting Westbrook, the Warriors started slow once again and were down double digits in the first quarter, but outscored the Knights 20-11 in the second, 15-5 in the third, and 20-9 in the fourth to cruise to the win. Bradbury scored 22 points and also had six boards, five assists, and three steals; Jean-Pierre scored 11 and dished out five assists, and Smith added 10 points for Valley.