Sophomore Becomes 4th Player in Last Five Years to Reach Milestone at South River
 |
| South River’s Derrick Whitaker poses with his mother and father as well as varsity boys basketball coach, Rodney Harris after scoring his 1,000th career point in a 85-75 victory over Piscataway Tech on Thursday. Whitaker, a sophomore, became the fourth player in the last five years to reach 1,000 points at South River. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Martinez-Shereef |
PISCATAWAY, NJ–On a night where the South River Rams ran the 94 feet of heat to near perfection in beating Piscataway Tech 85-75, a major milestone was achieved by one of its players. Derrick Whitaker, only a sophomore, reached the 1,000 point mark by scoring 33 points in the GMC crossover victory. He also added 6 rebounds and 5 assists on the night. His career total is now at 1,022.
Whitaker reached the magical milestone on a drive from the left wing for a layup that put South River up 22-15 with 1:12 to play in the first quarter. Watch video of Whitaker’s 1,000th point below. The sophomore became the fourth player in the last five years to reach the majestic milestone at South River High School.
|
| South River’s Derrick Whitaker became the 15th player in South River High School history, and the fourth player in the last five years to score his 1,000th career point during a 85-75 Rams victory over Piscataway Tech on Thursday. Video courtesy of Stephanie Martinez-Shereef |
Four years ago, Tyler Harris, the son of head coach, Rodney Harris, was the first to reach the milestone and finished with 1,209 points before graduating in 2013. The following year, the 2013-14 season, sharpshooter and dynamic point guard, Matt Martinez reached the mark in a game against Cardinal McCarrick, and finished with exactly 1,100 points.
A year later, it was Sean Darrar, the nephew of Coach Harris who reached the milestone against East Brunswick Tech, and finished his career with 1,432 points, which ranks second on the school’s all time scoring list behind 1991 graduate Deon Jackson. Whitaker becomes the 15th player to score 1,000 points at South River High School. The first person at the school to reach the milestone was Leon “Hutch” Witkowski in 1968.
Whitaker became the third boys player in the GMC this season to reach 1,000 points for his career. All of them came in the past week. Earlier in the week, Mike Ugarte made a free throw to accomplish the feat against New Egypt on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, Timothy Christian’s Rob Saydee, who only needed two points to reach the milestone, scored 21 against Perth Amboy in a 75-57 loss in the GMCT Preliminary Round.
As a freshman last season Derrick led the Rams in scoring with nearly 18 points per game and helped lead the team to a CJ Group I semi-final appearance. He was named All Gold Division in the Greater Middlesex Conference and was also named to the Home News Tribune All Area Team. GMC Hoops also awarded Whitaker as the Freshman of the Year.
A year ago, the South River Rams were one of the feel good stories of the 2015-16 Greater Middlesex Conference Boys Basketball Season by finishing with an 18-11 record overall including a third place finish in the GMC Gold with an 11-5 record and a 12-8 mark in conference play. All of this was despite having only one returning varsity starter, and three freshmen in the starting five, and Whitaker had a lot to do with the success.
After going through some difficulties late in January and early in February of 2016, the South River Rams regrouped, and put together a memorable run to the semifinals of the Central Jersey Group 1 State Tournament with wins over Academy Charter in the first round, and a thrilling victory over Henry Hudson Regional in the quarterfinals before falling to eventual sectional champion, Florence in the semifinals.
This year in the GMC Blue Division Derrick has upped his scoring to over 22 points per game, even as teams have looked to take him away from the offense. Derrick looks to add to his totals as the Rams take on Monroe in South River tomorrow at 4pm.