For the first time in school history, Central Springs has a 1,000 point scorer in boys’ basketball. Senior Angel Jose knocked down a game-high 26-points against Newman Catholic on January 4th to accomplish the feat.
Jose has played 75 games at Central Springs in the past four seasons averaging almost 14 points per game for his career. An aggressive player, Jose looks to score every time he touches the basketball, but he knows when to give it up to a teammate; and when Jose shoots, he’s effective. Through ten games, he’s shooting over 50 percent from the floor, 3o percent from behind the arch, and 61 percent from the free-throw line.
In this era of high school basketball, extra development comes from playing in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) events. Angel has played with the Iowa Barnstormers since he was in seventh grade. An organization that’s recent alumni include current San Antonio Spur Joe Wieskamp, Northern Iowa star AJ Green, and one of the best scorers in NCAA D-I basketball this season Keegan Murray. The Barnstormers were established in 2005 with a single team and now have eight age groups with multiple units per age group. But it has been the work of various coaches to help Angel get to where he is now.
What’s next for Angel? His team still has eleven regular-season games and is guaranteed at least one postseason game, though Jose has more giant dreams. Like most kids that lace up their shoes on Tuesday and Friday nights, Jose wants the experience of Wells Fargo Arena and the state basketball tournament. College basketball has also been something he’s been striving for, saying, “That feat would be amazing; I’m up for anywhere that will accept me.”
He also wouldn’t mind a young Panther coming up to break his school scoring record that – with at least 12 games remaining – could be close to 1,300 points.
