Academy Park’s Jawan Collins, shown fighting his way to the hoop earlier this season, became the program’s all-time leading scorer ion Saturday’s 72-54 win over West Chester Rustin. (Times Staff/Robert J. Gurecki)
By Matthew De George
In a community where athletic potential is rarely kept a secret, Jawan Collins’ historical possibilities were spoken in hushed tones until last year.
It wasn’t until after the 2014-15 season — when Collins cracked the 1,000-point plateau as a junior, leading Academy Park to the District One Class AAAA tournament — that assistant coach Ron Bright pointed to the record books. If all goes well, Bright told the guard, that record for most points in school history should be yours.
Saturday, as clinically and methodically as the first 1,200 went through the hoop, so did the historic No. 1,295, eclipsing Byu-Deen Twyman’s school record in a 72-54 win over West Chester Rustin.
Collins canned a jumper from a step inside the 3-point arc with 51 seconds left in the first half, his ninth point of the night. He entered with 1,286, trailing Victor Colon (1,290) and Twyman (1,294), teammates who graduated in 2000.