I realize most of you are uninterested in central Wisconsin high school sports (your loss), but had to write about this. Yesterday Mike Griffin of Iola-Scandinavia (right, 23) scored 54 points in a loss to Suring at the Sentry Classic in Stevens Point.
It was the best individual performance I've ever seen in person. The previous two: LeBron James scoring 53 points against the Bucks at the Bradley Center, and Greg Oden going 10-for-10, all dunks, in a win over a very good Indianapolis Pike team in the Indiana high school playoffs at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Griff was making contested 3-pointers like they were uncontested layups, 10 in all. He was 14-of-15 from the line. He carried his team (#5 in Division 3) against a very good, balanced Suring team ranked #3 in Division 4. Josh Regal, Suring's point guard, had 24 points and 17 assists - a legit total, he was driving an dishing masterfully - including one on Cody Lechleitner's game-winning 3-pointer. The final was 83-80 in overtime.
Griffin, who occasionally plays hoops with my gang at noontime and rains 26-footers on us, is ranked by one publication as the #25 prospect in Wisconsin, but some websites have him ranked nationally. He has good size (a solid 6-3) and is a great shooter, and it will be interesting to see where he ends up playing in college.
His 54 points yesterday erased the great Mickey Crowe's name from the record books - Crowe held the previous single-game Sentry Classic scoring record with 40 points.
What's the best individual performance you've ever seen in person?
Wisconsin Sports Network story
Video clip from yesterday's game from WAOW
Friday, December 28, 2007
Mike Griffin: 54 points in a game
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10 comments:
I remember you talking about that kid during football season. 54 is a ton of points in a HS game. I've never really seen anyone light it up on the HS level to that level- Okey is probably the best HS player I've seen live- Pieper? I always heard about Travis Tuttle but never got a chance to see him live. TJ Van Wie (sp?)used to light it up for the Dells.
Josh Howard for Wake Forest went for 30+ and tore up the Badgers at the Kohl Center. That's probably the single best performace I've seen in person.
54 points is a ton at any level, but downright ridiculous at the high school level. The other kid with 24 and 17 is just as amazing. I have never witnessed anything close to that.
Grade School Basketball: Dan Hudson in 8th grade-St. John's tournament, had 20something and 20something. Honorable mention to anytime Brian Hill played Holy Angels, except for the technical foul game.
High School Basketball: I saw Joe Wolf come to West Bend when he was in High School for the Class C sectional and he put up 42 with two dunks. First time I had seen a high school player dunk, as you can probably count on one hand how many dunks West Bend high school teams have put down in the last 25 years. Honorable mention to Scott Tappa himself for the Tappa Zone, which Holquist read on the baseline during one of our practices before an East-West girls game, paused and looked at the bench and where the marking was on the floor and said, "Tappa Zone? Hmmmmm...That's about right." as he looked at the bench.
College Basketball: Having seen a lot of games as part of work, the best performance I have seen is Steve Novak going for 41 points and 16 rebounds against UConn. I don't know what is more shocking, the 41 points, the 16 rebounds or the win against #2 UConn. His combination points and rebounds is a BIG EAST record and the most ever in a BIG EAST debut. (Novak isn't on your hated list like Diener and Fitzgerald is he?)Honorable mention to Aaron Johnson from Penn State for his 16 point 24rebound effort against Western Carolina in a meaningless BCA game at the Bradley Center.
Pro Basketball: Not much to draw from as I haven't seen any real spectacular performances, other than 30 point games from the usual suspects. I was at a LeBron triple-double a couple years ago and it seemed like it as he was all over the floor.
Saw Andre Miller at the Bradley Center go for 27 points, 19 assists, 0 turnovers. But I've never seen one of those real ridiculous performances like some mentioned.
On a related note, if you've never seen the full broadcast of Kobe's 81-point game, find it. I don't like Kobe, but I've seen the replay twice and it's by far the craziest thing I've watched in sports. Highlights don't come close to doing justice to how incredible it was.
And I would also nominate Michael Flowers vs. Texas, 12/29/07.
Just for more perspective: in an overtime game, Griffin came out a couple times, so he played at most 34 minutes. That meant he averaged about 1.6 points per minute.
Kobe got his 81 in 42 minutes, about 1.9 points per minute. Kobe had 21 2-pointers, seven 3-pointers and 18 free throws.
Unfortunately, Novak is on my list - it always looked like he was wearing a lot of hair gel, which is a big no-no for hoopsters in my book. But I saw parts of that 41-point game he had, he was unconscious.
That Tappa Zone was actually where I hit most of my 3-pointers, from about 30 feet out. Or it was where Wagner and I ate Now & Laters while waiting for garbage time.
As a youngin, I was fortunate to see Tony Bennett light it up with Green Bay Preble in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons ... too many 30- and 40-point games to remember.
But I do recall him hitting a 3/4-court shot at the halftime buzzer during a sectional game at the BC Arena. Just a sweet shooter ... was fun being able to continue to watch him at UWGB.
As for Griffin ... Taps, please send this kid to Rob Jeter and UWM ASAP. We are sorely lacking in the perimeter shooting dept.
I participated in a game in which Brian Hill lit up Walt Landvatter for like 69 pts. Granted, we did not help Walt one bit, but 69 pts in a City League game is worth mentioning.
Ha, Hill's big game! I thought it was 59 points ... can someone confirm? I missed that game with plantar wart issues.
Haze - big win out in Wyoming today, with two more kids left behind. Who's left? I could see Griff fitting in as a preferred walk-on type at UWM. A couple summers ago he played on Korie Luscious's AAU team.
It was 59 points. Thanks for helping out guys. Great excuse Tappa for not playing in that game. That is like a Ben Sheets injury. NICE Don't you remember Hill saying "five nine Landvatter".
Im only a freshman at Iola and ive talked with Grif a lot i played with him on our football state runner-up team hes an all around great player hes got the most talent and heart of anyone ive seen in both Football and Basketball
Mike griffin is nothing but a fake. I've seen him in my life and I have talked to him. Josh REgal is real. I shoot with him in the gym after practice and I talk to him all the time. He's cool and awesome. I luv u Josh!
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