Boys Basketball – Pat Andree Scores 1,000th Point in CBA Win Over Central

MIDDLETOWN – Before he even scored a point as a varsity basketball player, Christian Brothers Academy junior Pat Andree was a unique player within framework of the storied program’s history as a rare freshman to start for the Colts.

A little more than two years and one thousand points later, Andree made some more history in a program steeped in it.

Andree became the first CBA player in 31 years to reach the 1,000-point mark as a junior when he hit the milestone in the first quarter of the Colts’ 84-65 win over Central Regional on Sunday. Andree finished with 18 points Sunday and is the 15th CBA player to score his 1,000th point, which came on a breakaway lay-up 1:57 into the game.

“There are a lot of great players who have played here who have been through what I’ve been through and lived that CBA life,” said Andree, the younger brother of former standout Tim Andree, who went on to play at Notre Dame. “It’s definitely a brotherhood in that respect. It’s great to still see a lot of the former players come back and still be close to the program and to have my name in there with those guys is an honor.”

The last Colts player to reach the 1,000-point mark as a junior was Bob Roma in 1974. Roma graduated in 1975 and is still the school’s all-time scoring leader with 1,671 points. Matt McMullen was the last CBA player to reach 1,000 points in 2011 and he, Andree and Brian Neller are the only three players to attain the milestone during the nine-year tenure of Geoff Billet, a former CBA and Rutgers standout and 1,000-point scorer himself.

“We’ve been going through the record books and there are not as many thousand-point scorers as people might think,” said Billet, who scored his 1,000th point as a senior in 1995. “People think of all the great players that have played here and they figure there’s a one-thousand-point scorer every other year, but it’s actually pretty rare. Not many players play more than two years of varsity here, so you either have to make the varsity team while you are still young or score a lot once you do. Pat’s the rare player who has been able to do both.”

Andree burst onto the Shore Conference scene as a freshman when he scored 19 points against Manalapan in his high school debut. He was a coaches’ all-division player as a freshman and a Shore Sports Network First Team All-Shore selection as a sophomore in 2013-14.

“All thousand-point scorers are great players, it doesn’t matter what school you play for,” Andree said. “But it does seem like it’s harder to do here because of the tradition and the focus on winning. There aren’t many chances for freshmen or sophomores to play, so I’ve been fortunate in that aspect.”

Following a brief stoppage in play to acknowledge Andree’s achievement, CBA appeared poised to roll through Central when the Colts took an 18-8 lead before the three-minute mark of the quarter. The Golden Eagles, however, battled back to take a 25-24 lead early in the second and cut a 43-30 second-quarter deficit down to four in the third.

“Our goal is to prepare ourselves for the state tournament, and I can’t think of a better way to challenge a team than coming to CBA and playing the number one team in the Shore with Division I talent,” Central coach Steve Zengel said. “I really like their guards. They don’t get the credit they deserve, and their big three is phenomenal. Kids with that size and that skill are almost impossible to match up with.”

Junior Jack McGuire led CBA with 25 points, including 10 in the second quarter. Senior Jack Laffey added 21 points for the Colts, while senior Shaun Belbey poured in 10 and junior Matt Dean chipped in eight off the bench.

With more than a month of basketball left in his junior season and an entire senior year ahead of him, Andree is poised to make a run at becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer.

“That’s not really on my mind yet,” Andree said of the scoring record. “I want to get through this year before I look that far ahead. My focus is on winning first. One thing I haven’t done that a lot of those other guys have done is win the Shore Conference Tournament. That’s more important that any of the records.”