Neshaminy senior Nate Townsend & Abington senior Jeremiah Lee both reached the 1,000-point milestone in their final high school games. (Nate Townsend photos courtesy of Jesse Garber. Abington photos provided by Abington basketball.)
A pair of SOL boys’ basketball players gave their teams reason to celebrate despite disappointing outcomes for their respective teams in Friday’s opening round of the District 1 6A Tournament.
Neshaminy’s Nate Townsend and Abington’s Jeremiah Lee both reached the elusive 1,000-point milestone in their final high school game.
Jeremiah ‘JJ’ Lee, Abington
To say Jeremiah Lee’s opportunity to reach the 1,000-point milestone came down to the wire would be an understatement. With Friday’s District 1 6A game against
Springfield-Delco and Abington’s season down to its final seconds, Lee – who needed 23 points – stepped to the foul line with 22 points. He calmly buried both shots, putting his name in the program record books.
“I was kind of nervous if I missed or not, but I knocked them down,” Lee said.
It might not have come down to the final seconds had the senior standout not been watching from the sidelines for most of the third quarter.
“I got hit on my head, and they thought I had a concussion, so I had to sit out,” Lee said.
After Lee passed the concussion protocol, he re-entered the game with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The outcome was all but decided with Abington on the short end of a 41-23 score heading into the final quarter, and Lee immediately became the focal point of the Ghosts’ offense.
“I was like – ‘I have to get my points,’” he said. “I didn’t want that mindset, but everybody else had that mindset. We were already done for, so I had to get my points.”
With 1:37 remaining, Lee – according to coach Dan Marsh – was still five points away.
“Getting JJ the ball was our sole focus,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “He was out for like a quarter, and for him to come back – he just went for it. He got hot, we started feeding him the ball.
“Time kind of ran out on our team, and we figured – it’s time to let JJ shine and we did.”
With time winding down, the game took an interesting twist.
“I got it at the foul line, thanks to (Springfield-Delco) coach (Kevin McCormick) and my cousin, Lathan Miller,” Lee said. “My cousin fouled out, and he wanted me to get my thousand points really bad. When he fouled out, he went up to the (Springfield-Delco coach) said, ‘The game’s already over, can you please let my cousin get his thousand points. He’s five points away.’ A great coach - he let me get my five points by fouling.”
Lee made those foul shots count, connecting on 6 of 6 to finish with 1,001 points.
“At least we had something to celebrate on a very difficult night,” Marsh said. “JJ has worked so hard, and he deserved it.
“You can tell he really expanded his game. He went from a one-threat player where he would just get to the rim to a triple threat kid who can hit a 3 and hit a mid-range shot, and that makes him difficult to guard.”
A first team all-league selection as a junior, Lee is the 16th boys’ basketball player at Abington to reach the milestone, the first since Lucas Monroe in 2019.
“It wasn’t a goal, but at the end of my sophomore year, my coach said he thought I could get a thousand, so that really motivated me,” said Lee, who scored 24 points in Abington’s 58-42 loss to Springfield-Delco. “I was happy and sad at the same time Friday. I’m going to be on the banner and made history, and that’s good, but I wanted to go further with the team in districts and states.
Charles Grasty, now the Abington athletic director, coached Lee his first three years of high school.
“This was super, super special for him, his family, the community,” Grasty said. “It kind of brought a tear to my eye just seeing his growth. I had him ninth grade, knew he was going to be a player, but you never know what happens in high school basketball. Anything can happen.
“Just to see him continue to keep working and working and getting better and better and - even off the court – seeing him mature, I don’t think he said a word freshman year. Sophomore year, it was 10 words, and last year, it was 30 words. Now he’s a young man, he’ll come into my office, and we’ll sit down and talk. Just seeing his growth has been amazing.”
Lee is following in the footsteps of his brothers – Anthony, who went on to excel in basketball at Kurtztown University, and Josh, went on to play football at Kutztown.
Lee says he did not feel pressure being the younger sibling.
“It was just motivation because my brother Ant never got a thousand and I wanted to get it – the first person in my family to get a thousand points,” Lee said.
He plans to continue his basketball career at the next level. Kutztown is a consideration, and Lee is looking into other PSAC schools as well.
Nate Townsend, Neshaminy
Nate Townsend is about a whole lot more than scoring points.
The Neshaminy senior led the Redskins in points, rebounds and assists during a stellar senior season.
“Honestly, I think everybody loves to have points,” Townsend said. “Oh yeah, I had the most points, but then again, there’s other ways to win the game.
“I pride myself in not just getting points but assist-wise sharing it with my teammates and getting boards. That’s half the battle that we have to fight for.”
Townsend knew he stood a chance of reaching the 1,000-point milestone.
“Me and my mom – we keep stats throughout the season, so we knew going into the season - I might not get it, but I was on track,” he said. “Honestly, I didn’t really feel any pressure. Even though, yeah, it might be my last game, but I still have to go out and perform and try and get the win.”
Neshaminy had a forgettable offensive showing in Friday night’s District 1 6A opener at Conestoga, managing just 19 points and only five field goals in a loss to the Pioneers. Townsend entered the game needing 10 points to reach the milestone.
“It was a terrible shooting night overall - we had five baskets, Nate had all five,” Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle said. “He got it on the first basket right after halftime. He did it on a mid-range jumper – he had five mid-range jumpers.
“It was an ugly game, but at least we had something to be excited about. We beat Conestoga two weeks earlier at the buzzer. We came in Friday night - they were fired up big time, and we just couldn’t put anything in the basket.”
A three-year varsity starter, Townsend is just the sixth Neshaminy boys’ basketball player to reach the milestone, the first since Chris Arcidiacono in 2018.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” Tingle said. “There’s only six people since 1950 in our program history. Neshaminy was 10 to 12th grades up to 2009, and it’s really hard when freshmen are not allowed to play. If you played as a freshman, you had to be starting varsity.
“Nate also led our team in assists the last three years. He can score, but I think he likes to pass more, so for him to get a thousand points with definitely over 300-some assists is what makes him so special. He can score when we need him to score, but he also likes to pass the ball. Our big kid (Max Curry) is going to set our school record for field goal percentage at like 70 percent, and they’re basically points off assists from Nate and Emeer (Coombs).”
A first team all-league selections as a junior, Townsend averaged close to five assists a game this season, and his thousand points ensures the talented senior a spot in the record books.
“I’m only the sixth one in my school, and in that aspect, I’m really proud of myself,” Townsend said. “I’m really thankful to have everybody that supported me in my corner as well. Without everybody supporting me, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve that.”
Townsend is committed to continue his basketball career at Penn State-Harrisburg, choosing the Penn State satellite school from a final list that also included Wilkes and Arcadia.
“I’m really thankful to say I’m going to college for basketball,” Townsend said. “I visited about eight, nine schools, and I narrowed it down to three towards the middle of my season.
“Really, it’s just my mom, so financially, I had to look out for her as well. I still have to look out for myself. I need to know what the team is like, I need to know the school. I had a really good relationship with all three of those coaches, but at the end of the day, I felt more comfortable with coach (Don) Friday at Penn State-Harrisburg.”
There was no mistaking Townsend’s disappointment at seeing his final high school season end.
“I’ve been playing with Emeer Coombs and Guy Horton since we were kids, so just knowing I can’t play with them any more makes me upset in a way,” he said. “But then again, I know we’re all going our separate ways, and more than likely, we’ll all be playing basketball in college. I’m really proud of all of us in that situation.”
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