Memphis James is having one of the best careers out of any Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton boys’ basketball player. The stats prove it.
After his 19-point performance against Kenyon-Wanamingo on Friday, Jan. 26, he jumped into second-place in all-time career scoring with 1,487 points. He leaped two spots from fourth to second, jumping ahead of 2004 graduate Travis Priem at 1,471 and (JWP Hall of Famer) Ben Kipp, who tallied 1,485 points.
With his _-point performance recently at United South Central on Tuesday, Jan. 30, he broke 1,500 points and is now 17_ points away from the number one spot.
James is in good company with many other talented top-ten players like Class of 2020 graduate Kobe Weimert, now fifth all-time at 1,432 points, current boys’ assistant coach Connor Morton with 1,359, Ricky Johnson at 1,141, Kyle Fisel at 1,055, and Josh Stockman at 1,053. James’ former teammate, Landon Dimler — now a starter for the Mankato West Scarlets — sits in 10th at 1,015 points in three seasons and as a sophomore.
Other players who are unofficially within the top ten (and when JWP was just Janesville) are Gene Volz (Class of ’56) with 1,291, Jim Tetzloff (Class of ’61) with 1,166, and Tim Bartelt (Class of ’87) with 1,134).
The race is on with seven games left in the regular season and at least one guaranteed playoff game. If the Bulldogs don’t move past the first round of sections, Memphis James will need to average over 22.3 points per game to break the record. His current pace so far this season is 19.2 points per game.
If they keep their spot at first in the western division of the Gopher Conference and make the conference championship, the average needed lowers to 19.8 points per game. From there, the average points needed are lowered by about two points with each additional game the Bulldogs play in the playoffs.
Good luck, Memphis. Get that record!
