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PENNSBURG – The play was vintage A.J. Picard.
Souderton’s gifted guard filled the left lane on a two-on-one break when – at just the right moment – teammate Nate Moyer deftly found Picard with a perfect lead pass. Without hesitation and knowing full well he would be fouled and fouled hard, Picard went strong to the basket, laying the ball off the glass to finish off the textbook fast break.
Picard stepped to the foul line to attempt to complete the three-point play while the Souderton fans that made the trip to Upper Perkiomen for Saturday’s non-league game held their collective breath,
The ball had barely found its way through the hoop when the fans erupted.
Picard had just reached the magical 1,000-point milestone.
“When I was going for the last foul shot, I knew I was one point away,” he said. “I was just saying, ‘God, go in for my mom.’”
The Indians’ senior guard ran into the stands where he presented the game ball to his mother, Sara Picard, and the two exchanged an emotional embrace. From there, Picard headed to his team’s bench to accept the congratulations of his teammates and coaches, and last but not least, he went to the scorer’s table where he and younger sister Bianca, who was keeping the book, hugged.
“I was about to break down,” Picard admitted. “Nate Lewis was like, ‘You can’t cry. You can’t cry.’
“My sister was crying, my mom was crying.”
Picard’s three-point play broke a 32-32 tie and gave the Indians a lead they would never lose on their way to a 61-44 win over the Tribe. In the end, winning the game was far more important to the senior star than any personal accomplishment.
“Really, I just go out there every game, and I want to win first,” Picard said. “If my team finds me, hopefully, I’ll score, but I just went out there and kept shooting. Hopefully, they would drop.
“This has always been my dream since I saw Jimmy (Connolly) do it last year – I was hoping I could be the next person. (Coach Perry) Engard gave me the green light to score this year, but if it wasn’t for my team, I don’t think I could have made it.”A contingent of Souderton fans in attendance wore t-shirts designed for the occasion with a countdown that began at 26 points – the number of points he needed entering Friday night’s game against North Penn. Picard scored 12 points in the Indians’ win over the Knights and needed 14 on Saturday.
After Picard scored nine points in the first half, the only question that remained was not if it would happen but when. Picard hit nothing but net on a short baseline jumper to pull to within three, and then converted the historic three-point play with 4:46 remaining in the third quarter.
For Moyer, it was the second time he assisted on a milestone basket. Last year, he also had the assist when Jimmy Connolly reached the 1,000-point mark.
“I have been playing with A.J. since fifth grade, and this is real special moment for everybody,” Moyer said.
There was some good-natured kidding before the game about which of Picard’s teammates would do the honors.
“Nate Moyer, Nate Lewis and Serg (Anthony Sergio) came up to me and said, ‘I’ll give you five bucks if you let me pass it to you and you score,’” Picard said with a laugh. “I was just really going for the win first and celebrate afterwards.”
Picard, according to coach Perry Engard, is most deserving of the accomplishment.
“There’s not a more coachable kid in the world than A.J.,” the Indians’ coach said. “Everybody likes the kid – as a person first, which makes it so much more fun to be a teammate or coach of his.“There isn’t anybody that isn’t happy for him today.”
Picard is averaging 19.9 points a game for the Indians, but putting points on the board is just a small part of his game.
“People forget that for the last three years he was our leading assist man,” Engard said. “He’s a very unselfish player, and it says so much about him that he scores points while still giving the ball up.
“That’s one of the reasons we didn’t see it happen until the second half. He had an assist on the first basket of the game – that’s just the kind of kid he is, and he’ll continue to be that way.”
Picard is averaging 5.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 steals a game.
“He’s stretched out his game and become a very well-rounded player,” Engard said. “His on-the-ball defense is the best it’s been.
“Points are just one piece to the puzzle, but I’m glad he got it out of the way, and it helped contribute to a win. That’s the best part. If it would have happened in a loss, he wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it.”
As it was, it was a day to celebrate, and when the game was over, Picard was surrounded by family and friends who shared his special day with him.
“It means a lot that they were here,” he said. “They’re like one big family.”
Not forgotten in the midst of the celebration was Picard’s father, Mark Picard, who passed away when A.J. was in fifth grade.
“After the game, a lot of my close friends came up to me and said he would have been proud of me,” Picard said. “I play every game for him. This was for him too.”
Picard is the seventh male athlete at Souderton to reach the prestigious 1,000-point milestone.
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