8th Grader from South Meadow Middle School (Conval region) Ian Sistare drops 66 pts in game

Here's the article from the Monadnock Ledger.

Sweet 66: One player’s big night
SMS performance is one for the record books
By Tim Goodwin
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
It’s the kind of performance every kid dreams of.

When South Meadow School eighth grader Ian Sistare took the court on Thursday at Pelham for his team’s season-opener, he knew it was going to be a tough game.

With a younger, less experienced team around him, Sistare, who stands at six feet, one inch in his basketball shoes, understood he would have to play a big part if the Pumas were going to start the year 1-0.

So the point guard went out and had a night he will never forget. When the final buzzer sounded, the Pumas did have their first win of the year, 80-75, but it was Sistare’s final stat line that will stand out for years to come. Sistare set a school-record by scoring 66 points, including all 16 of SMS’ points in the first quarter and 24 of 26 in the fourth.

“After the season I’ll look back at it,” Sistare said. “It is pretty cool. I’ve never had a performance like that.”

At the half, Sistare had 26, he added another 16 in the third and came up with a big final quarter that included the go-ahead basket with less than a minute left.

“He went on a little run to bring us back,” said coach Richard Ellingwood. “I’ve never seen anybody like him at this level.”

There were no official statistics kept on rebounds, but Sistare and Ellingwood believe he finished somewhere between 20 and 25. Sistare hit 24 shots from two-point range, three from beyond the arc, all in the second quarter, and was 9-for-13 from the free throw line.

“They couldn’t stop him at all,” said Ellingwood. “That’s the best offensive performance I’ve ever seen.”

The funny thing is that Sistare had no idea how many points he had when the game was over. It wasn’t until a teammate told him in the locker room before getting on the bus.

“I had no clue that I had that many,” he said.

Sistare said he had no intention of going out and scoring that much. All he wanted to do was help the Pumas win.

“If I had scored that many and lost the game, it wouldn’t mean that much,” said Sistare. “The biggest thing was helping my team win.”

Prior to Thursday’s outburst, Sistare’s career high was 36 in sixth grade.

“I’ve never come close to that,” he said. “I never go into any game thinking I’m going to score this amount of points.”

I guess we know who will be the consensus #1 ranked player in the class of 2015 next year.