Roxboro player stands alone in NC prep hoops history
ROXBORO (WTVD) -- There have been countless spectacular basketball players in North Carolina High School history. None of them though has been as prolific in one season as Roxboro's Darius McGhee has been this year.
McGhee is quiet with a microphone in his face. But give him a basketball and he's deafening. McGhee, who plays for 1A Roxboro Community School is one of the nation's leading scorers - and making noise game in and game out.
"He can score from anywhere. We had a game last week. Two steps across half court he pulled up, launched one," said Roxboro Community head coach Justin Bettendorf. "I'm looking at the other assistant coaches going 'oh goodness' but he made that one, then he proceeded to make four more in a row in that same general vicinity."
Tuesday night, McGhee became the first 1,000-point single-season scorer in state history. He's averaging almost 37 points a game. Just don't let his feather touch fool you.
"Everybody always talks about how high I jump," McGhee said. "I had my first dunk when I was in eighth grade; I was like 5-6. And then I jump ball for the team so that kind of shows them a little bit."
"I always compare him to if you've seen a cat jump, how they just a whole other level they go up they just sort of glide," Bettendorf said. "That's Darius to a T."
Points may be plentiful, but this 16-year old is far from a me-first player. After pouring in 57 in a loss he was more upset about the outcome.
"He set a scoring record for himself and the team. We lost the game by one point and he was more upset about the loss," Bettendorf said. "And he could care less about the points."
McGhee's state record tops an impressive list.
"Chris Paul. JamesOn Curry," McGhee said. "Couple people told me I should be proud about it because even Michael Jordan or Vince Carter, people like that from North Carolina didn't even get to do it."
