The West Chester East Vikings defeated the Downingtown West Whippets, 62-51, Thursday night, and it was one to remember for two senior Vikings, Andrew Carr, and Tym Richardson.
Carr surpassed 1,000 career points in his high school career with an emphatic slam, that sent the well-traveled Vikings student section into a frenzy.
Richardson ended the contest with 999 total points in his high school career and will have to wait until Saturday night to join his teammate in the 1,000 point club.
“Tym [Richardson] made a great pass off the inbound. It was a designed play by coach Durant to throw a lob over the top, and I knew I wanted to make my 1,000th point a dunk so I had to go for it,” Carr told Basketball Society following the win.
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Carr, 6’9”, is a University of Delaware Blue Hens commit, who has been stuffing the stat sheet in his senior season. Carr finished with 18 points tonight and dropped a 40 bucket on the Academy of the New Church earlier in his senior campaign.
“It means so much to me,” Carr said after taking a picture with his team to commemorate the moment. “The entire coaching staff has done a great job here the past couple of years.”
The Vikings have started the season strong, winning 10 of their first 11 games, only losing to the Coatesville Red Raiders who are led by Jhamir “Jig” Brickus, a 2000 point scorer in the Vikings’ Chesmont League.
The Vikings led 26-22 at the half, and Carr led the team with 11 first-half points. Richardson finished the half with five points. The Vikings held off a late push from Downingtown West in the fourth quarter and improved their record to 10-1.
Carr believes that his team is built for beyond this year. After a 3-18 season in 2016-2017, a coaching change was made, and the program began to shift directions. Coach Durant began as head coach in late 2017, and after finishing 9-14 in his first season, the results began to reflect the changes Durant had implemented.
The Vikings finished last season with a 21-8 record, and look like they’re going to top that win total this year.
“We’ve kind of turned around the name of West Chester East and I think we’re due for long-term success. We’re building a program here… It’s definitely trending in the right direction even after I leave West Chester East.”
The Vikings next contest is Saturday, January 11, when they will host Deuce Turner and the Malvern Prep Friars, where Tym Richardson will join Carr in the 1000th point club.
We’ll continue to survey how far Andrew Carr can take the Vikings this season before he heads off to the University of Delaware for his first year at the D-1 level.
