In the hallway just outside of William J O’Meara Gymnasium, there’s a list of Holy Cross’ all-time leading scorers. It’s an impressive group of players who went on to play major Division I college basketball.
Evan Conti’s future is still unknown, but it is clear the versatile swingman has cemented his spot in Holy Cross basketball lore by becoming the eighth player in the school’s history to score 1,000 career points. He achieved that milestone Tuesday afternoon in a 68-45 CHSAA Class AA Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan game against All Hallows.
The 6-foot-3 unsigned senior needed just six points to reach the mark and he did it late in the first quarter on his signature dribble left, spin right move.
“To get my 1,000th point on my main move was pretty cool,” Conti said.
Conti finished with 15 points and moved into sole possession of seventh place all-time with 1,009 points, moving in front of Richie Ashmeade (1,001), who played at Rutgers. The Virginia duo of Sylven Landesberg (2,149) and Willie Dersch (1,399) top the list, followed by Derrick Chievous (1,361), who played at Missouri, St. John’s alum Bob McIntyre (1,160), former Iona standout Glenn McMillan (1,109) and Rich Dunphy (1,060), who played at Fordham.
“For him to be only the eighth guy to score 1,000 points is really a terrific accomplishment,” Holy Cross coach Paul Gilvary said. “He may not be as physically talented as some of those other guys, but he got on the same list with them because he worked extremely hard and he gets the most out of his ability and never takes a play off.”
Conti received a warm ovation from the crowd when Holy Cross assistant athletic director Tim Gilvary announced his accomplishment and Conti was then mobbed by his teammates.
“It felt like I really accomplished something important,” Conti said. “It really felt great.”
That he was able to reach the milestone at home in a lopsided league win made it even more special for Conti, who has received interest from New Hampshire, Kent State, Tulane, Fairfield, St. Francis (Pa.), UMBC, Iona and Hartford.
“You couldn’t have really asked for much better,” he said. “It was really special.”
Conti, who averages 17 points and 10 rebounds per game, said he’s also proud of the fact he has more than 550 career rebounds, particularly impressive considering the knock on him is that he’s not that athletic.
“People are saying I’m a 6-3 Jewish kid who can’t jump over the papers, but I guess I can do something to get all those rebounds,” Conti said.
Marquise Moore helped lead the way for Holy Cross (14-8, 6-5 Brooklyn/Queens), which has won four of its last five games, with 18 points.
“He didn’t take a shot for the first four minutes of the game today,” Gilvary said of Conti. “Other kids would have come out there and started firing away to make sure they’d get [1,000 points]. But he didn’t do that. He had a couple of assists before he had a shot, which speaks a lot about the type of player he is.”
While Conti has plenty of time to reminisce about his place in Holy Cross history, he said has more immediate goals in mind.
“Just being able to do that in one of the best programs around in the city, it feels like my hard work paid off,” Conti said. “But only one person [Landesberg] on that list won a city championship. I want to be the second one.”