Big Spring Basketball team congratulates Senior Jake Knouse for reaching 1,000 career points.
Senior Jake Knouse and Junior Aidan Sallie both reached their 1,000 career point mark this season, becoming just the 12th and 13th to reach this mark.Both accomplishments were met during home games at Big Spring High School. Head Coach Jason said, “Jake and Aidan are good players. Both have different skill sets and roles but are key to our success.” They definitely made a name for themselves this season, Creek said, “We have had a great regular season, but we are excited to make a push in the post-season. This year’s team won 17 games, the most in a single season since 1995-1996. I am very proud of the effort this group has displayed so far this season.”
Knouse passed 1,000 career points on a fast break lay-up on January 20th in a home game against West Perry. Knouse said, “I wanted to get it at home because that’s my stomping ground. It’s where it all started and where I pictured it to be as a little kid.” Knouse has been in the Big Spring Basketball program for 15 years, and it came to no surprise that he was going to be a contender for reaching 1,000 points. Reaching 1,000 points is no small feat. It takes a strong support system, he said his biggest supporters are his family. Knouse said, “I felt all the nerves finally go out. I didn’t even see it go in to be honest, I just heard everyone cheering and I knew it went in. All the hard work had paid off and it felt so relieving.” Now that he has reached this milestone, he is focusing extremely on the team, he said “I want to keep playing with this group of boys for as long as I can.” When asked for his perspective on the season, Knouse said, “I would describe this season so far almost perfect. Besides a few losses our season is going great and I couldn’t ask for a better group to be playing my last school season with.” With it getting close to their play-off run beginning, that also means the season will start dwindling, underclassmen will have to step up. When asked what advice he would give to underclassmen that hope to reach 1,000 points Knouse said, “It doesn’t matter how many points you score in one game or how many you score in a row. First of all its a team effort and if you consistently put the ball in the basket it will all fall into place.”
Big Spring’s Jake Knouse scores his 1,000 point during the game against West Perry. He is the 12th Big Spring student to accomplish it. (Doug Lindsay)
Aidan Sallie is a junior at Big Spring High School and has had a different experience from what Knouse has seen. Sallie transferred his Freshman year from Carlisle in hopes to make an immediate impact. Sallie said, “One of the most important things that my teammates have done for me is kind of take me in when I moved here, like a little brother in a way. For some people it’s different, like Jake because he had people on his team that looked up to him and teammates that he was really close with.” Sallie scored his 1,000th point on a 3 pointer in a home game against Greencastle. While he had a different background, they both felt the same initial feeling. Sallie said, “I felt a little bit relieved, but I didn’t really think much of it because we were in a game, I felt very grateful for everything that people have done for me a kind of reminiscent in a way.” Even though Sallie hasn’t hasn’t been a Bulldog his whole life, he is certainly chasing the records, he believes he can beat the single season scoring record this year. Breaking records can’t be done by a one person effort, Sallie said, “Do whatever it takes to be the best teammate you can and know that no matter what, winning is the most important thing.” and “If you can be a good teammate, thats what matters.” Even though he hasn’t had the abundance of connections and relationships formed throughout the years with fellow Bulldogs, Sallie has found great support in other ways too. When asked who his biggest supporter is he said, “I would say my parents, brothers, and grandparents, they come to every game. Family in general, I get a lot of text messages, and a lot of nice comments from them, and they come over after games and we just celebrate.” This has been one of the most successful seasons we’ve seen in a while.
Big Spring junior Aidan Sallie gains 1,000 career points after draining a 3-pointer in a game against Greencastle. Aidan is the 13th person to achieve this and the 2nd in the 2023-2024 season.
