Abington senior Amir Hinton surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in the Ghosts’ district title win over PW at Temple University last Friday.
By Mike Prince
For SuburbanOneSports
Unlike many players who score a 1,000 points after three and even four full seasons of varsity basketball, Abington senior Amir Hinton reached the impressive milestone without having the luxury of seeing much playing time before his junior season with the Ghosts.
In what also happened to be Abington's biggest win in nearly 30 years - a 53-35 whooping of local powerhouse Plymouth Whitemarsh in last Friday's District 1 Class AAAA championship game at Temple University - Hinton reached the milestone with a free throw in the second quarter.
Hinton, who was not part of the team his freshman year, saw extremely limited minutes during his sophomore season but was an offensive force as a junior. The senior standout averaged roughly 20 points per game the last two years, helping his team to two of its most successful seasons in school history.
"It was kind mind-blowing (to reach the milestone)," said Hinton, who sits at 1,010 career points before Abington's upcoming state playoff run. "I didn't really think I was ever going to reach it, knowing that I didn't really play in tenth grade. The number was really big, but my coaches told me to just play and not to worry about it or get my head wrapped up in it too much."
Hinton certainly didn't get wrapped up in the milestone. Despite a few 30-point games recently and being the leading scorer for the Ghosts, Hinton has always been anything but a selfish player, regularly looking for a teammate to pass the ball to when there isn't a high percentage shot readily available for himself.
"It was awesome to see Amir (hit 1,000 points) after seeing how hard he worked the last couple of years," said Abington coach Charles Grasty, who was in eighth grade the last time Abington won a district title in 1986. "He started his junior year and just continued to get better and better. The way he got it - he wasn't selfish about it. He put it on the back burner and wanted to help us reach another goal, and for him to reach his personal game in that game was great because of what it meant to the program."
Against PW, Hinton led all scorers with 20 points, scoring the first seven for the Ghosts to help them take control from the very start.
In consideration of the magnitude of the game, play was not halted when Hinton reached the milestone; however, it was acknowledged during the game's next stoppage.
"They announced it and it was very exciting to know that I reached that mark, especially with friends and family there for the game. I had a whole lot of family there," Hinton said. "It meant a lot to happen in this game also. I thought I was going to get it in states, but it was even better this way and getting it at Temple was exciting."
While Hinton isn't sure of his future when it comes to collegiate level athletes, he says that he's looking at UMBC and West Chester, among others.
"Wherever Amir goes, he'll be successful," Grasty said. "He comes into practice and he works his butt off every single day. He's a captain, a leader and he's very unselfish. The school that gets him is going to get a great player and a great person with high character. All of his teachers love him and he's very popular in school."
With his career accomplishment now behind him, Hinton is looking forward to helping his team reach the state championship after falling just seconds short of doing that last season. And with any game possibly being his last at the high school level, Hinton knows it counts now more than ever.
"It feels great in our minds knowing that it had been almost 30 years since this school had a district championship," Hinton said. "It was mind-blowing. We wanted it. We needed to pick it up and we did and it means a lot to us. That was one of our goals this year."
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