A Vina High School standout is the latest Franklin County basketball student-athlete to reach the 1,000 career points milestone this week.
The Red Devils’ Christian McCarley, who is averaging a double-double this campaign, achieved the feat in Vina’s game against area rival Marion County, needing just a handful of points to reach the mark.
“It’s a huge milestone and not a whole lot of kids get there,” Vina head coach Randy Barnes told the Franklin Free Press. “In my five years coaching basketball here, this is the second kid I’ve had to do it. He puts in a lot of work to do it, and this year he’s averaging over 20 points a game.”
Barnes has been around McCarley for a handful of years now, and the head coach is proud of how the senior’s game has improved since the eighth grade.
“He’s been with me since I got this job, so to see him get this milestone it’s awesome,” Barnes said. “I’ve had him since he was a young kid, so to see him progress, hit the weight room, and over the years he’s just gotten faster and stronger. He’s very aggressive, he’s a good ball-handler, he can score. He’s just a very good player—one of the best basketball players I’ve coached.”
Coming into the contest against Marion County, McCarley combined for 53 total points and 30 rebounds in previous games at Cherokee and Tharptown, but the multi-sport player’s athletic excellence—McCarley was a Franklin Free Press All-County quarterback and defensive back, as well—is nothing new to Red Devils fans. McCarley’s impact, though, isn’t just in tangible points scored; Barnes said the senior serves as a leader on his team, as well.
“He’s definitely one of the leaders of the football team and the basketball team,” Barnes said. “Not all of them but a majority of the basketball players we have are on the football team, so that relationship and that leadership kinda rolls over.
“But his leadership, it’s not just where everyone sees it. It’s in practice, too,” he added. “He practices just as hard as he plays, and there’s a lot of those kids in that middle school group that really look up to him.”
The senior and his fellow Red Devils have finished up their regular season after a 56-38 win over Waterloo—a game that saw McCarley drop another double-double, 25 points and 14 rebounds. Now Vina, entering its area tournament and hoping to earn a subregion spot in the state playoffs, enters the win-or-go-home portion of the schedule. Whatever happens, though, Vina basketball fans will certainly continue to see the name Christian McCarley in the future.
“We actually honor all of our kids that get to 1,000 points in our gym,” Barnes said. “I know he’s gonna be excited to see his picture put up there under that huge milestone.”
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