Elian Rodriguez’s favorite subject at Salem High School is history.
Now, he’s part of it.
On Tuesday night, Rodriguez became just the fourth player in the long and storied history of Salem High boys basketball to reach 1,000 career points as a junior. A slashing drive and right-hand finish did the trick just before halftime in his team’s 77-48 victory over Saugus at the Salem High Fieldhouse.
Finishing with 27 points on the evening in a little over two-and-a-half quarters of play, Rodriguez has 1,006 career points. He is the ninth male player in Witches’ hoop history to reach the 1K mark.
“It’s one of those things I’ve dreamed about doing since I was a little kid, but I never really believed I could until I got to high school,” said Rodriguez, a 5-foot-11, 165-pound guard and co-captain for the 9-1 Witches.
“I’m feeling good because it’s obviously a big accomplishment and not many people reach it,” the 17-year-old Rodriguez added. “It tells me all the work I’ve put into this point has paid off. And to do it as a junior, and know that I still have a year-and-a-half to play here, that’s really exciting.
“But my ultimate goal is to lead Salem High to a state title.”
Since the legendary Eddie Wineapple (1,017) first cracked the 1,000 point mark for Salem High back in 1925, it has been a benchmark for some of the school’s all-time greatest players. The great Scoonie Penn leads the way with 2,189 points, followed by future NBA’er Rick Brunson (1,772), Antonio Reyes (1,586), Dan Fraser (1,327), Eric Groszyk (1,064), Connie St. Pierre (1,020) and Christian Dunston (1,001).
Rodriguez joins Brunson, Penn and Reyes do hit the mark as juniors.
“To do in two-and-a-half years what most kids can’t do in four full years says so much about Elian,” said Salem High coach Tommy Doyle. “He’s worked so hard on his game his entire life, and this is a major accomplishment for him. He’s definitely a special player, a team-first guy.”
Attack-the-rim guy
Averaging 20.4 points per game through 10 games this winter, Rodriguez made the Salem High varsity as a freshman and became an immediate starter and contributor. He scored 331 points as a ninth grader (15.0 ppg.), then saw both his responsibilities and scoring ratchet up as a sophomore, where he produced 472 points (nearly 21.5 ppg.) over 22 games.
In the 54 varsity games that Rodriguez has played with the Witches to date, his teams have gone a combined 39-15, good for a .722 winning percentage.
At his current pace, Rodriguez could finish second all-time in SHS scoring annals behind only Penn. While individual goals are not his primary focus, reaching 2,000 points before he graduates is something he feels is realistic “as long as I continue to play the work in and stay locked in.”
Doyle said the speed and quickness Rodriguez possesses set him apart from others at this level.
“He’s really, really tough to stop 1-on-1,” Doyle noted. “He’s as quick and shifty as they come, and he’s definitely an attack-the-rim guy. He does it as well as anyone I’ve ever seen.”
There were no guarantees Rodriguez would reach four digits Tuesday night; he needed 20 coming in. But the large Salem High fanbase was eagerly anticipating him doing so, and both they and his family on hand — his mother Lucien, older brother Gulemi and older sister Jali, and many of his cousins — got to revel in the moment with him.
“Throughout the day and when the game first started I was a bit nervous; I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Rodriguez admitted. “But I hit a three-pointer on my first shot, and it felt good. I knew I could do it.
“When I scored right before (getting 1,000), I was running back downcourt and told myself, ‘You’re in the zone. If you get the ball, you gotta go for it.’ I came off a screen, got by my man near the (3-point) line and saw the lane was right there for me.”
One Salem High teacher had made a basketball-shaped cake that was Salem red and white, along with the orange of a basketball itself, with the words ‘Elian Rodriguez 1,000 Points Witches Basketball’ on it. Fans held up large photos of his face and ‘1,000 Points’ signs, and there was a similar lengthy banner hung up on the wall behind one of the baskets.
“It was an emotional thing for me, to do it in front of my family like that,” said Rodriguez, who went over to hug his mother after being congratulated by his teammates following the hoop. “They’ve seen all the work I’ve put in and know how badly I want this to be my future.”
“I love that kid like a son. He’s been amazing to work with for the last 2 1/2-3 years,” added Doyle. “He’s a great, well-rounded kid. Don’t get me wrong; he’s very, very good at basketball, but Elian’s also a tremendous person. It’s his personality, his attitude … he’s got the whole package. He’s just a genuinely good person. I’m so happy for him.”
Protein power
Having first picked up a basketball when he was five, Rodriguez said he never played on a team until the fourth grade when he joined former SHS star Tony Mataragas’ Salem travel ball team, playing up a level against fifth graders.
While he has been offered to take his talents elsewhere, Rodriguez said he never seriously considered leaving his teammates in the Witch City.
“I love Salem. It’s a great community and environment,” he said proudly. “I love Coach Doyle and our assistant coaches, and all my friends on the team and at the school. Why would I ever want to leave?”
His best friend on the squad, he said, is fellow captain Nate Lane, a senior who shares a similar basketball mindset. “We’ve got a real bond,” he said. “Nate and I have personalities that just fit, both on and off the court. We work really well together. The whole team, really; we’re all so tight.”
Doyle refers to Rodriguez as a “gym rat in the truest sense of the word”, a player who no matter the time of year is always in a gym whenever he can, working on his game.
“I remember when our Principal, Mr. (Glenn) Burns, was new to the school a few years ago, and it was the first Friday night football game of the season. We were walking over to the field for the game and he asked me, ‘Who’s that young man shooting hoops in the small gym?’” recalled Doyle. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s a freshman, Elian Rodriguez.’ Everyone’s going to the football game, it’s still late summer and really warm out, and there’s Elian working indoors to get better. That drive and attitude has defined his career here.”
Owner of a 50-point game last season vs. Wakefield (Penn holds the SHS single-game record of 53 vs. Peabody High), Rodriguez felt he had a coming out party of sorts on the statewide level after his Witches went into Beverly and knocked off the highly touted Panthers earlier this month.
“That was a real statement game for us as a team,” said Rodriguez, who led all scorers with 25 points that night, “and certainly helped get my name out there to more people.”
Rodriguez has already started getting messages from some Division 3 colleges, with undoubtedly many more potential suitors to come calling. He understands that good grades go hand-in-hand with the opportunity to play in college; it’s no wonder he’s an honor roll student with gets A’s and B’s in the classroom.
Having recently started eating peanut M&M’s before games — “maybe they give me that protein power I need,” he said with a chuckle — Rodriguez is eager to help Salem keep piling up victories as they aim for the Division 3 state title … which would be the first for the program in 31 years.
“The thought of getting 1,000 points is crazy, to know I’m one of only nine people to ever do it here and that will be there forever. It’s a great feeling,” he said. “But the main goal for us is that (state) championship. We really feel we have the guys to do it.”
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