ORANGE PARK, Fla. – With only a couple minutes left in the third quarter of Tuesday night’s basketball game against First Coast Christian, history was made.
St. Johns Country Day point guard Camden Cooper grabbed the offensive rebound, took a step, and tossed up the floater that will be one of the most memorable shots in his young career. That was the moment Cooper scored his 1,000th career point.
“It means a lot because I thought I was going to make it there some day, but I didn’t know it was going to be this early,” Cooper said. “It’s cool to see I’m up there with some of the older people having 1,000 points.”
A feat that only a few have ever accomplished for the Spartans.
“I knew I was going to get it this year at the start of the year so it’s just a matter of when I was going to get it and it finally happened,” Cooper said. “I knew I just had to get one point so I was just really trying to get it to get it over with so I didn’t have to worry about it.”
Scoring 1,000 career points is remarkable at any age, but it is even more unique to accomplish the feat as only an eighth grader. This is not too surprising for Spartans head coach Ian Gibson though. He knew Cooper could have this much success when he joined the team only three years ago.
“I was like ‘yo, you can be a 1,000-point scorer by the time you get to high school.’ And three years later, he’s a 1,000-point scorer in the eighth grade so I knew he had a special talent,” Gibson said.
If you are wondering what Cooper’s favorite part of basketball is, you probably are not surprised the team’s leading scorer’s favorite part is to do just that — score.
“He’s really smooth, like silky smooth,” Gibson said. “He just kind of knives through butter, you know on the court. A big time shot maker. He’s a gamer. When the lights come on, he really stands out.”
Cooper still has four years of high school ahead. Next goal he would like to accomplish is winning a state championship. Then, he would like to play college basketball. Cooper currently has six Division I offers. But for now, he can cross scoring 1,000 career points off of his wish list.
“It really is crazy when you think about it,” Cooper said. “Of all the people and how the school has been here so long and I’m the 17th person.”