For Kendal Young, scoring 1,000 points was all in the family.
The Williamsburg junior was able to join his father, Troy, and his brother, Elliot, in the elite 1,000-point club on Friday, Feb. 17 during a 73-50 loss to Blanchester that marked the end the Wildcats’ regular season.
“It means a lot to me,” Kendal said of scoring 1,000 points. “I’ve been working towards it since I was a little kid.”
Needing 20 points to reach the prestigious milestone, Kendal went about his business as usual, being the focal point of the Wildcats’ offense.
Scoring 17 points in the first half, he knew where he stood as the Wildcats came out of the locker room.
“They told me going into the beginning of the third quarter (what I needed to get to 1,000),” Kendal said. “It was a three. I just came down the floor and shot it.
“I got to keep the ball. They’re having it painted now, but when it happened they called a timeout and handed me the ball, stopped the game for a minute and told me congratulations.”
He would go on to score 25 points in the game.
As if scoring 1,000 points in a high school career isn’t enough, Kendal did it in just three seasons. Now a junior in his third year on varsity, Kendal has been an integral part of the Williamsburg basketball team since he was a freshman.
“It’s a big deal,” Kendal said. “I don’t know what to say, really. I don’t go out and think about scoring a lot, I just try to play my best.”
The Young family is full of scorers. Kendal’s father, Troy, scored over 1,000 points during his high school career at Clermont Northeastern in the mid-1980s and just last year, Elliot Young, Kendal’s older brother, scored his 1,000 point in a game against Blanchester.
“It’s a good feeling to join them,” Kendal said. “I knew that my brother had it and my dad did, too. So, I wanted to be up there with them and to do that is a good feeling.”
Kendal joins an exclusive group at Williamsburg High School that not only includes his brother, but also former Wildcat standouts Trevor Foster and Clayton Connor.
With the 1,000-point burden off of his shoulders, Kendal is beginning to look forward to the postseason.
The Wildcats head into a sectional tournament game with No. 3-seed Roger Bacon on Friday, Feb. 24.
“Roger Bacon is a good team, they always are,” Young said. “They play hard defense and really get after you, but I know we’ll go out and try to play our best.”
Tough defense is something Kendal has to face every time he takes the court. Teams around the area are well aware of his ability to score and as a result, dedicate entire game plans to stopping him from doing so.
Being face-guarded and double-teamed is all in a night’s work for Young, but he is still able to put up some impressive numbers. The junior is averaging 22 points per game and just over eight rebounds.
Young will need to keep us his stellar play on Friday to take down the Spartans as Young’s Wildcats will travel to Western Brown for their first-round matchup. The game is slated for 6:30 p.m.
