NC State signee Paul McNeil scores North Carolina state-record 71 points
Before Rockingham (N.C.) Richmond Senior High took the floor against Lee County on Tuesday night, coach Donald Pettigrew talked to his team about looking to find to NC State signee Paul McNeil on the offensive end.
The team’s star player is a nominee for the McDonald’s All-American game, but Pettigrew knew he needed to do something “extraordinary” to catch the voters’ attention. A big scoring number would help in that.
The plan was simple: find McNeil and let him score.
It is one thing to talk about it, but it is another thing to actually execute it. McNeil and his teammates did both.
The four-star small forward and No. 59 recruit, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, scored a North Carolina state record 71 points on 28-of-49 shooting, which included 10-for-26 from beyond the arc. He also had 16 rebounds and six steals in the Raiders’ 118-52 win.
“He just had that look about him,” Pettigrew told TheWolfpacker.com on Wednesday morning. “It was just something special. … I’m so happy for him. He came with that mindset where he’s going to score, be ready to play. It was just something special to see. We don’t realize how amazing it is. It’s unreal.”
McNeil broke Clayton High’s Bob Poole’s record of 67 points in 1950. Since then, only nine others have scored more than 60 in a game, according to HighschoolOT.com. The future Wolfpack star topped a short list of North Carolina high school hoopers with at least 60 points, including Duke signee Isaiah Evans (62 points last season) and NBA standout Chris Paul (61 points in 2002).
The senior scored 35 in the first half, and Pettigrew said that is when he realized McNeil had a shot to have a special night. He made it to 56 points by the end of the third quarter, and hit the historic mark late in the fourth quarter.
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McNeil is currently averaging 33.9 points per game, according to MaxPreps data, which qualifies him as the state’s leading scorer. He is also 12 points away from his 2,000th career point, even though Richmond had a shortened season during his freshman campaign that was just 12 games.
“He’s a scorer,” Pettigrew said. “You don’t realize how good of a scorer he is. He can score all three levels, and he’s been doing it since his ninth grade year. It’s something that you just get used to seeing. It’s crazy. Every time he shoots the ball, you think it’s going in.”
Pettigrew said he did not know how long the previous record stood since before humans went to space until he got home. He added that he texted McNeil, and his star was humble about it.
McNeil is not one for the spotlight, instead he is quiet and a team player. But Pettigrew wanted to get McNeil the recognition, and it seems that the first part of his plan worked out well. Now, it is up to the McDonald’s All-American Game voters to put the NC State signee into the contest.
“He ain’t an individual guy, but we just want him to get the individual recognition,” Pettigrew said. “He deserves it. All that he’s done for this school, for this community, for us as a team. It’s a team sport, man, but he makes it easier for everybody else. He just goes about his business, and it’s been amazing coaching him the last four years.”
