Smithtown East Senior Ben Haug has been outstanding this season. He has been averaging just under 19 points on the season while leading the East Siders to an impressive 11-4 record with preseason playoff hopes becoming a reality.
Outside of the team's success, the Newsday Top 100 Preseason Long Island Basketball Player was approaching a major career milestone as he was slowly closing in on the 1000 point milestone.
With only three home games left before the playoffs begin and he was inside of 20 points until the career barrier would be reached, Haug had an opportunity to make history in front of a home crowd in the Bulls January 30th matchup against the Huntington Blue Devils.
After a slow start that saw the Bulls trailing 17-13 after the first quarter, the East Siders would dominate the second and third quarter. They would hold the Blue Devils to a combined 17 points while the Bulls scored 31 combined points that would put the game out of reach, leading to a Bulls victory by a score of 60-49.
The Senior would finish the game with 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. He also showed off his shooting ability as he drained 3 three pointers in this contest.
Haug’s supporting cast came through in this contest as well as James Burton drained a game high 4 three pointers and finished the contest with 15 points.
Craig O’Neill and Gjon Lleshaj also made some solid contributions in the victory over Huntington as O’Neill added 8 points while Lleshaj contributed 7 points in the team’s 11 point victory.
However, the most important event that occurred wasn't team related but more about Haug getting to a barrier that either Smithtown High School hasn’t seen since Ryan Hickey of Smithtown West eclipsed it during his senior year in 2013.
The 1000 point barrier is one that happens very seldom as you typically have to have been playing on the Varsity team for four years. On top of that, said player most likely has to be a starter during his freshman year and remain a starter until his senior year without getting injured at any point throughout their career.
Haug was able to use his god given talent, hard work, dedication, and durability to not only reach the 1000 career point total, but to become one of the very best basketball players in the county this year.
Congratulations to Ben Haug and the coaches at Smithtown East on the major milestone being reached!