Pitman High junior Avery Sanchez has said in the past that he views himself as a better winner than he is a scorer. The three-year varsity player has been accomplishing both at a high rate through the first two months of the 2023-24 basketball season.

Last Wednesday, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound guard scored 33 points in a 72-67 overtime victory over Gregori to help push the Pride (17-6) to a 5-0 record in the Central California Athletic League and increase their lead to two games over second-place Turlock (3-2). The 33 points also pushed the guard past 2008 graduate and current Hilmar High head coach Austin Keaton as the program’s all-time leading scorer.

Keaton’s mark of 1,212 career points stood for 15 seasons. Following the Gregori win, Sanchez had 1,226 career points. Another 19 points on Friday night in the Pride’s 69-23 dismantling of Modesto increased his career total to 1,245 and helped improve the Pride to 6-0 in league heading into tonight’s CCAL contest against the Downey Knights.

“I don’t pay too much attention to the statsheet. As long as we keep winning, I’m happy,” Sanchez said. “To be honest, I didn't know about (the record) until I was told after the game, so it was kind of a surprise. But it was definitely a good thing to hear knowing that when you put in a lot of time, you get rewarded through accolades. And for me, the best reward is a lot of wins.”

Keaton, who was a four-year varsity player during his tenure at Pitman from 2004 to 2008, reached out to congratulate Sanchez the following day.

“Like the old saying goes, records are meant to be broken,” Keaton said. “I'm excited for Avery. It’s tough to get there, for sure. But he puts in the time and works hard on the basketball floor, in the offseason, in the weight room and in the gym.

“He's going out there each night and giving his team the best opportunity to win. In order for them to do that, it’s him putting the ball in the bucket. There’s just a good variety of different ways for him to score. It’s impressive. For him to accomplish that should be very rewarding. It's a good accomplishment to have.”

Sanchez reciprocated the sentiment, praising Keaton and the other Pride players who came before him.

“It’s a great feeling, although I still haven't really put into perspective how many great athletes have played here. But it feels good knowing that my name is up there with Austin’s for sure, and I wish him the best with Hilmar.”

Pitman head coach Harvey Marable shared that he knew that Sanchez was destined to be a great player for his team when he first joined the team in 2021.

“Did I think, when he joined us his freshman year, was he going to be a leader for us for the next four years? I did,” Marable said. “He's proven that with the time he puts in the work he puts in. For him understanding the concepts of the game and for also believing in what we're doing, that all makes it a lot easier… Breaking Austin’s record is a huge achievement.”

Despite Sanchez and Keaton’s names now being beside each other on the all-time scoring list, Marable explained that it is impossible to compare the two, and that they are each great in their own ways.

“We’re talking about two different timeframes and styles of basketball. The game has evolved,” he said. During Austin's time, the three-pointer wasn't a weapon that you played for or built your team around. Now Avery is in a time frame where the three-pointer is a part of what you build your team on with a lot of guards… They're both point guards and they both wanted to compete, but it’s like asking, ‘Who do you like better? Nate Archibald or Steph Curry? They're both great and proved their worth to their teams while they were playing.”

Marable and Sanchez agreed that, while the milestone is a special accomplishment that is deserving of celebration, the team must stay fixated on finishing off the regular season strong and working towards a deep playoff run.

“We want to get incrementally better each time we step on the floor,” Marable said. “The players know that they need to work together. We need to keep getting better in our passing, setting screens and cutting through to give someone a chance to get open, and doing all those extra things for their teammates. This is a mature group.”

“It's important for us to keep increasing our execution as the games go on,” Sanchez added. “Obviously, as the season goes on, it kind of wears on players a little bit, so we want to make sure that you know we stay healthy and we keep getting better in practice. We’re not the biggest, fastest or strongest team, so everything is earned.”

After Downey tonight, the Pride will host Turlock on Friday. The regular season wraps up next Wednesday when they host Enochs.