Cook scores 1,000th career point in sectional win over Owen Valley

Northview's Drew Cook scored his 1,000th career point at the 6:46 mark of Friday's sectional semifinal fourth quarter on a 3-pointer.

Austen Leake photo

Entering the Class 3A Edgewood boys basketball Sectional tournament, there was some history on the line for Northview’s Drew Cook.

It was a bit under the radar with it only being his second season in a Knights uniform. But after scoring 126 points his freshman year at Linton, he entered Wednesday’s opening round game against West Vigo, standing just 28 points shy of the 1,000-point mark for his career.

With a 15-point outing in Northview’s 65-35 rout of the Vikings, Cook sliced 54 percent of the needed 28-point total, leaving the 6-foot sharpshooter 13 away from accomplishing a goal he had set out for himself many years ago.

At the 6:46 mark of the fourth quarter in Friday night’s sectional semifinal game against Owen Valley, Cook achieved his high school scoring holy grail when he sunk a 3-pointer that pushed his career tally to 1,002 and Northview’s advantage over the Patriots to 14.

Cook said scoring his 1,000th point wasn’t on his mind during the game, but when the junior guard was told he had done it with a 24-point outing afterwards, he admitted getting to the historic mark against the same team his friend and former teammate Caleb Swearingen did it against last year was pretty neat.

“I’ve always dreamed as kid to get to four digits as a high school player,” said Cook. “Since I scored 126 of them at Linton my freshman year, I’ve still got some work to do [to become the eighth member of Northview’s 1,000-point club]. I just want to see my name on the banner with all of the Northview greats, including my best friend, Swear,” said Cook.

“It definitely means a lot to me, but I’ve still got more to do. I just wanted to get the job tonight. I didn’t really care about the 1,000 points, although I did want to get to 1,000 against the same team Swear got to it,” Cook continued. “I just wanted to win because I wanted another shot against Brownstown. That’s all I cared about.”

Northview head boys basketball coach Michael Byrum was excited Cook reached the 1,000 career point total, stating the team’s leading scorer has gone about excelling on the court the right way.

“It’s a big deal. He does a really good job of working at the game the right way. He’s a very talented young man. I’m very happy for him and his teammates are very happy for him,” Byrum said. “Hopefully, we can keep the numbers climbing for him.”