A mixed bag of results for the Belgreen High School varsity boys’ basketball team did produce one exemplary individual achievement as the Bulldogs hit the road this weekend.
The Belgreen boys' team saw split results as they earned a win over the Haleyville Lions on Friday before a defeat versus Belmont High School (Miss.) the following day. It was in the Bulldogs' loss to Belmont, however, that junior Braycen Johnson scored 32 points to push him past the 1,000 career points milestone, etching his name alongside other Belgreen basketball greats.
"I just remember when he (Johnson) was in eighth grade and he got his first little taste of varsity basketball," first-year Belgreen head coach Will Bonner said. "From then on I knew what he could be capable of.
"He means so much to our program, really. He works so hard every day. He's our leader," Bonner added.
Coming into the weekend Johnson was 20 points shy of the 1,000-point mark, but he cut that in half with 10 points on the road at Haleyville on January 24. Johnson was one of four Belgreen players to hit double-digit points as the Bulldogs beat the Lions 61-53. Jake Dill and Jonathan Mendoza co-led BHS with 12 points each in the victory, while Rush Berryman added another 10 points alongside Johnson.
The next day, January 25, Belgreen competed in the Red Bay Shootout where the Bulldogs were matched up with Belmont. Despite leading by two points, 22-20, at halftime, Belgreen couldn't maintain its advantage in the final 16 minutes as the Cardinals went on a 35-20 run to close out the game.
Scoring 32 points, Johnson was the main offensive threat to Belmont as only two other Bulldogs—Dill and Berryman—found their way onto the scoresheet.
"Obviously we play better when we play together, but there are times when our team can't get going and it's nice to have (Johnson) there to help carry that load," Bonner said. "When we played Haleyville we had four guys in double digits and it was more of a team effort, and we really locked in on the defense end. On Saturday (against Belmont) we didn't play the best defense...but we were also missing a starter, so that kinda hurt us—our second leading scorer. Just having (Johnson) there, he's gotta pick up the slack, and he does a really good job of that for us."
Johnson scored his 1,000th career point in the second quarter of the game, hitting a two-pointer to give him 11 points in the game to that point.
"I think it's a pretty big accomplishment in high school basketball to achieve 1,000 points. I also think being able to do it as a junior is a little more impressive, especially when teams are so heavily focused on him game in and game out," Bonner said. "To be able to do the things he does, I really think it's a special thing."
Johnson would go on to score 21 more points after that, including four three-pointers in the fourth, to push his career total to 1,022. Bonner told the Franklin Free Press he's excited to see what the future holds for their star Johnson with the remainder of this season and his senior year to look forward to.
"He's made major strides from last year to this year, scoring-wise. I just hope he can continue that the rest of this year and into next year, but we've gotta lot of time to work and get better this offseason," Bonner said. "He's huge for our program—he really is—and I'm excited about what he can do in the future.”
NOTE: A previous version of this story erroneously listed Deshler High School as the opponent in the game in which Braycen Johnson scored his 1,000th point. That error has been corrected in the updated version of the article.
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