Pennsbury senior Cameron Jones surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in the Falcons’ win over Council Rock South on Thursday.
By Mary Jane Souder
Cameron Jones stepped to the foul line midway through the second quarter of Thursday night’s game against Council Rock South knowing he was about to make history.
Just one point separated the senior sharpshooter from adding his name to the list of elite players who have reached the 1,000-point mark at Pennsbury High School.
“I didn’t want it on a free throw,” he said with a laugh. “I was contemplating missing it, but I couldn’t.”
Jones sank the first of two foul shots and became the 11th male player in 62 years of Pennsbury basketball to accomplish that feat.
“It was just an honor to have my name among those great players in that group like Dalton Pepper and Jason Vegotsky,” Jones said. “Just the atmosphere in the building that night and my friends who had graduated were there.”
The 1,000-point club at Pennsbury has a family feel to it for Jones. He joins his uncle Mike Jones – who went on to play at Rutgers – and his cousin Torrian Jones, who played at Notre Dame, on the short list.
His father, Gary Jones, holds the school record for assists and went on to play at La Salle University. He is now an assistant coach at Pennsbury.
“Basketball was part of my childhood, it was part of my whole family, and it still is,” Jones said. “With my dad, his brothers and my cousins playing Division One basketball – it wasn’t a lot of pressure, but it was a goal.
“I wanted to live up to it because I know they did that, and I just wanted to get where they’re at.”
Coach Bill Coleman acknowledged that Jones is in some special company.
“When you look at the list, you have Dalton Pepper who started at West Virginia and went to Temple, and he’s playing professionally in Europe,” the Falcons’ coach said. “You have his father, Jack Pepper, and you have the three Joneses.
“For the Pennsbury community, it’s an elite thing. You have Jason Vegotsky who played at Bucknell, and you have one of our ex-players, Kieran Bolger. It’s very, very high quality players, and it says a lot for our program.”
Jones – after scoring 20 in the Falcons’ win over Neshaminy on Tuesday – entered Thursday’s game needing just 13 points to reach the milestone.
“My dad told me last weekend that I was 33 away,” he said. “That’s when I started realizing I was getting really close to it.
“Thursday I came in, and before the game, I wasn’t really nervous at all. Once we started, I missed my first shot, and it was like, ‘Oh no…’ I was a little nervous, but it was fine.”
The milestone, according to his coach, is well deserved.
“Cam grew up in a basketball family and has really worked hard to become the player he is today,” Coleman said.
Jones was the shooting guard on last year’s Falcon squad that advanced to the District One AAAA title game. This year – with the graduation of a large senior class – he has assumed a new role.
“The last two years, Cam has been primarily known as a shooter, but this year he is playing point guard for us, playing ‘D’ for us, and when we need to get up a shot, he’s our go-to guy,” Coleman said. “It was a big time transition for someone who was primarily a shooter, and it took a little bit of an adjustment period at the beginning of the year.
“The progress we’ve seen over the last few weeks has been great, from his changing his role to everyone else kind of moving into other roles as well.”
Jones admits it has been a different world this year.
“We have our three starters back, but the thing was we lost nine seniors from last year that I played basketball with my whole life,” he said. “It was regrouping and playing with a bunch of new players.
“We’re still going through growing pains, but at the beginning of the season, it was tough adjusting because we had transfers, we had jayvee players coming up who just didn’t know the varsity lifestyle and the way the game was. It was hard at first, but we’re getting better every day, and I’m enjoying it.”
Jones got a taste of life at point guard playing for his Jersey Shore Warriors AAU squad this past summer.
“It’s a little different playing point guard, facilitating for your teammates,” he said. “Over the summer, I played more two guard, but I also stepped into the point guard position when our point guard was either in foul trouble or they just needed me to bring the ball up.”
Basketball has been part of Jones’ life for as long as he can remember. He also played football and baseball.
“I really loved baseball, and I still love it to this day,” he said. “I played my sophomore year, but with playing AAU basketball, it conflicted with basketball, so I picked one. I knew I loved basketball more.”
The senior standout aspires to play collegiate basketball at the Division One level.
“I think I’ll make my decision around March,” he said.
In the meantime, Jones has kept his family’s legacy of excellence alive, and he credits one person for making him the player he is today.
“I credit everything involved in basketball to my dad,” he said. “He’s the one who pushed me to this day to where I am now. He’s been a very big influence.”
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