On January 20, 2012, Stan Wier scored 19 points to lead East Aurora past Maryvale in ECIC III action. After that win, Wier had 278 points on the season through 12 games, good for an average of 23.1 points per game. Bolstering that number was his season and career-high 40-point performance in a holiday tournament win against West Seneca East back in December. Aside from Wier's career night, his two best outputs on the season were 28 points against OTC/MEC in the MLK Classic and 27 points against Maryvale when the teams met for the first time in December.
Then on January 27th, the Blue Devils visited Pioneer and Wier embarked on the kind of scoring streak rarely seen in high school basketball. Beginning that night and in the four games since, Wier has scored over 30 points. Here's a game-by-game look at the recent streak and how each game improved his season scoring average:
01/27 vs. Pioneer – 32 points (23.8 ppg)
01/31 vs. Springville – 31 points (24.3 ppg)
02/03 vs. Amherst – 32 points (24.9 ppg)
02/07 vs. Cheektowaga – 37 points (25.6 ppg)
02/10 vs. Pittsford Sutherland – 34 points (26.1 ppg)
Averaging 33.2 over his last five games has moved his season average up a full three points to 26.1 ppg. The pace has drawn comparisons to the torrid one Jonny Flynn treated us to in 2007. I decided to go back to that season and find not only Flynn's numbers, but the numbers of other players who scored at a similar pace since Flynn played locally. Here's what I found:
2007 – Jonny Flynn (Niagara Falls) – 29.5 ppg
2009 – Robbie Seyler (Lew-Port) – 29.4 ppg
2011 – Jaysean Paige (Jamestown) – 26.1 ppg
2007 – Dominique Kendrick (Jamestown) 25.4 ppg
2011 – Blair Estarfaa (Maryvale) – 25.1 ppg
2009 – Lucas Haskell (Pioneer) – 25.0 ppg
2011 – Dazmond Knight (Tapestry) – 24.7 ppg
2008 – Edwin Ramulic (Kenmore West) – 24.3 ppg
Interestingly, three of the above mentioned players competed in Class A2 (Seyler, Estarfaa, & Haskell) and two of them in ECIC III (Estarfaa & Haskell), the same level of competition Wier is seeing. Four of the above players played in Class AA and one in Class C.
So what does it all mean?
For Seyler (29.4 ppg), who dropped 35 on eventual Class AA state runner-up Niagara Falls and the only player close to Flynn's output, he only made fourth team All-WNY with the News. I had him as second team that year, due to a quarterfinal loss in the A2 sectionals – otherwise he may have made my top five. Seyler went on to finish 14th in scoring nationally in the NJCAA as a freshman and was 11th in the nation as a sophomore. He also shot 47% from downtown that year (47 of 101).
Haskell (25.0 ppg) also finished on fourth team and his Panthers were ousted in the A2 quarterfinals as well. Estarfaa (25.1 ppg) made it on to second team last year. His Flyers also fell in the A2 quarterfinals.
Ramulic (24.3 ppg) was a fourth teamer and Knight (24.7) made third team after leading his team to the Class C final, before falling to state semifinalist I-Prep. Kendrick (25.4 ppg) wound up on the second team after his Red Raiders fell in the Class AA semifinals to Niagara Falls.
For Flynn and Paige, it meant Player of the Year. Flynn went on to the NBA and Paige took his team to the Class AA state title game.
Tonight, Wier's Blue Devils face a Depew team that held him to his lowest output of the season, an 11-point game on January 12th. Between his limited scoring in their first matchup and the five-game streak he is enjoying right now, Wier should be plenty motivated to light up the Wildcats tonight. With a light hoops schedule tonight, there might be a lot of hoops fans who turn out to see Wier in action. I know I'll be there.
-centercourt
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