Jason Crowe Sr. & Jason Crowe Jr. greet each other during a recent fall league game playing in the colors of Inglewood High, their new school. Photo: @crowezone5 / X.com.
All of the Cal-Hi Sports state records in boys basketball are updated and ready to go before teams begin playing games later this month to start the 2024-25 season. Here’s a recap of the new additions and a look at the career state scoring record currently held by Sacramento Sheldon’s DeMarcus Nelson.
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With 2,380 points in just two seasons and with two seasons to go, there’s little doubt that former Lynwood and current Inglewood standout Jason Crowe Jr. is on track to break the career state scoring record of 3,462 points set in 2004 by DeMarcus Nelson, who played at Vallejo earlier in his career and finished up at Sheldon of Sacramento.
We were there when DeMarcus broke that record at the old Arco Arena in Sacramento in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoff game. Fans wore t-shirts with the new record total emblazoned on it.
Crowe Jr. benefitted greatly as a freshman by Lynwood going on a deep postseason run in which he was able to play 35 games and scored 1,295 points. The Knights had to move up in CIF divisions last season due to competitive equity and Jason’s sophomore totals were not as high with an earlier playoff exit. He still scored 1,084 points in 29 games.
Tounde Yessoufou is on track to break career state scoring record, but may only own the record for one year. Photo: Mark Tennis / Cal-Hi Sports.
We know Jason and his dad, Jason Sr., who is now the head coach at Inglewood (his alma mater) and where his son is now going to play, have been aware of the career record for more than a year.
They may not know, however, that the career record has a good chance of being broken later this season and that the total by DeMarcus Nelson may not be the one to move past. The player in question is Santa Maria St. Joseph senior Tounde Yessoufou. He poured in 1,132 points last season as a junior and will be a four-year prolific scorer this season. Yessoufou, who recently committed to Baylor, has 2,816 points in his career. Another 1,000 this year is going to put him well past DeMarcus Nelson and make it impossible for Jason Crowe Jr. to break the record before his junior year is done.
Another current junior who also tracks to be well in front of DeMarcus Nelson’s still current state record is Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth. Alijah, the son of former NBA star Gilbert Arenas, had more points than Yessoufou or Crowe Jr. last season with a state best 1,154. He also averaged more than 30 ppg as a freshman and starts his junior season with 1,971 points. Arenas is not yet on the all-time state career list, but may be shooting up quite high on it after this upcoming season.
The player who moved up to the highest position on the all-time state career list after last season was graduated Logan Kilbert from Sierra of Tollhouse. Logan, who also went on to the single-game all-time state list for scoring 71 points in a 120-23 win last December vs Patten of Oakland, wound up his four seasons at Sierra with 3,334 points. He broke the CIF Central Section record and moved to No. 4 on the all-time state list.
FOR THE GOLD CLUB LIST OF ALL-TIME STATE CAREER AND SINGLE SEASON SCORING LEADERS, CLICK HERE.
Three-Point Shooting Bonanza
The only two players in the state last season who actually broke state boys hoops records were three-point shooters Johnathan Lupercio of Santa Maria and Braydan Worth of Napa Christian.
Lupercio canned 187 three-pointers in 30 games for Santa Maria. That broke the previous state single season record of 165 set in 1994 by Chad Bickley, who also is from Santa Maria but from Valley Christian Academy.
Lupercio still has his senior season left to play. Chad was the head coach for the past 17 seasons at Santa Fe Christian of Solana Beach, but resigned after last season due to time and commitments as executive pastor at Skyline Church in La Mesa. The Saints also made 428 three-pointers last season as a team and that’s good enough for No. 3 on the state list.
Johnathan Lupercio, who will be a senior at Santa Maria High, knocked down 187 three-pointers last season. Photo: Kenny Cress / Lompoc Record.
Worth was a sophomore last season at Napa Christian. He wasn’t nearly as prolific on three-point shooting as Lupercio, but he finished 84-for-126 on three-pointers for the single season three-point shooting percentage record of 67.0 percent.
Lupercio’s record might have gotten threatened later on in the CIF Sac-Joaquin or CIF regional playoffs by Stockton Weston Ranch’s Mateen Rafiq, but Rafiq’s team went out early in the SJS D1 playoffs to Inderkum of Sacramento. He still ended with 163 three-pointers for the season. Rafiq, who played on the varsity level for three seasons at El Camino of Sacramento before transferring down to Weston Ranch for his senior season, also had 434 career three-pointers to finish at No. 6 on the all-time state list. He was just nine short of the 443 made threes that Li’Angelo Ball had at Chino Hills from 2014 to 2017, including 2016 alongside brothers Lonzo and LaMelo Ball. Jimmy Beltz of Lodi Elliot Christian also had 443 career three-pointers from 2014 to 2017.
As a team with Rafiq and other shooters, Weston Ranch had 2,531 points during its regular season to gain an entry on the all-time state scoring list. The Cougars also as a team made 304 shots from beyond the arc and also made it on to the all-time state list.
The other team to move up on to the all-time list for shooting threes was Trinity Classical Academy of Valencia. The Knights connected on 325 three-pointers and are now at No. 10 in our state records. The team’s top shooter, Lucas Spring, made 141 on the season and also is now on that all-time list. Teammate Conrad Alderson also had 101 three-pointers for the season.
FOR THE GOLD CLUB LIST OF ALL-TIME THREE-POINT SHOOTING LEADERS FOR A CAREER & SEASON, CLICK HERE.
More Team Record Additions/Updates
*Modesto Christian won its 28th league title last season and is now No. 2 on the all-time state list.
*Long Beach Poly won its 65th all-time league title to continue an ongoing state record.
*Mater Dei of Santa Ana came up just short of another 30-win season, but the Monarchs are now No. 3 for most all-time wins even though they’ve only been playing since the early 1950s. A lot of other schools on that list have been playing basketball since the 1920s.
FOR THE GOLD CLUB LIST OF ALL UPDATED STATE TEAM RECORDS,
CLICK HERE.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle.
