Wyalusing's Jon Morrison nets his 1,000th on a career night
By: Brian Fees | Towanda Daily Review | January 25, 2018 | Photo courtesy Brian Fees
CANTON — Wyalusing's Jon Morrison had hope to reach the 1,000-point milestone at home on Monday night.
That didn't work out, so instead the Rams senior made Wednesday a night to remember.
Morrison scored the first 11 points of the game. He had 20 points in the opening quarter, the most he's scored in one quarter in his career. He finished with a career-high 35 points and a career-best nine threes on his way to 1,000 in a 69-29 win over Canton.
"It feels really good," Morrison said. "I have overcome a lot of injuries and overcome a lot of obstacles to be on the court again. To know my team supported me, to know my family is here, it's just a special moment. I didn't know how I'd feel, but there's no better feeling in the world."
Morrison entered the game needing nine points to reach the milestone. He finished the game with as many three-pointers made as he needed total points in the game.
"When I didn't get it at home against Towanda, we still got that win, which was great, my team knew coming into this game I was going to get it out of the way and I did it pretty early. I was done, I was done with that. I didn't want the monkey on my back any longer."
The first quarter performance was something Morrison has never done before.
"I have never scored like that before," Morrison said. "I hit my first shot, I looked up at my parents and I said tonight's the night, and it was.
"I didn't want to just get nine points and a win versus Canton, I wanted to make it a really special day for my family and coach. I was shooting that well, it was awesome."
Morrison didn't realize the type of game he was having, until he sat down for the night early in the fourth quarter, after doing all his scoring in just three quarters.
"I came to the bench and one of my teammates just said, you have 35 and nine threes, and I said 'Oh, my God,' that was the first time it hit me. All I thought was I got the 1,000 points and we were winning. Then they told me the numbers and I thought that's the way to get it, that's the way to get it."
Throughout his career Morrison has dealt with injuries, so he's happy he made it through to hit 1,000 points.
"When I was going through all those injuries I knew it was going to be tough to get back on the court, to compete at a high level" he said. "I started questioning whether I wanted to play in college, whether I wanted to keep doing this to my body and the risks that come with it. But, these moments, it is just really special to finally get it done and to know all my hard work and pushing through and persevering is paying off."
Morrison plans to continue his basketball career in college, and he knows that what he did on Wednesday is something he will show them.
"I am definitely sending this film to some coaches out there," he said.
Along with the 35 from Morrison, the Rams got seven points from Calvin Burke and Ismal Butron and Will Martin each had six points, while Scott Eberlin had five points.
Bryton Barna had three points and Brandon Brown, Kasar Cameron and Jacob Hamm had two points each, while Ryan Armitage finished with one point in the game.
Morrison had four steals and five boards and Martin had six steals, six assists and five boards.
Burke had four boards and two assists and Cameron had five boards and three steals. Brown had five rebounds and Barna had four rebounds.
Michael Smithers led Canton with 10 points and Zach Rentzel had six points, while Camden Route and Evan Landis had four points each. Reese Allen had three points for Canton and Jacob Aumick finished with two points.
Brian Fees is the sports editor of the Daily & Sunday Review in Towanda, PA.
