Scorers stand tall
Over the last few years, Steve Cress and Rob Briggs proved they belong in select company.
And now they've got the numbers to back it up.
Both are senior forwards, Cress for Mars and Briggs at Knoch, and both are now members of the 1,000-career-point club.
Briggs reached the milestone at the Blackhawk Holiday Tournament late last month and Cress went over 1,000 with his 22-point performance in Mars' 65-60 win over Knoch Tuesday.
It's the latest achievement for both players, who shared last season's Butler Eagle Boys Player of the Year Award.
Briggs became the fifth player in Knights history to reach 1,000 points, joining Aaron Faulx, Jordan Shoop, Josh Shoop and Fred Rothen.
Briggs currently has 1,059 points entering Friday's game at Kittanning.
The only two players above Steve Cress (1,002 points) on the Planets' all-time scoring list are Tim Frye and Bill Cress, Steve's father.
"It's nice to be mentioned in the same sentence as my dad now," said the younger Cress. "And getting to 1,000 points was in the back of my mind when I began playing varsity my freshman year, but it wasn't my main goal. I just wanted to become a better player."
One area in which the 6-foot-6 Cress has improved is his confidence on the court.
As a freshman and sophomore, a missed shot still would be on Cress' mind three possessions later. But over the last two seasons, he's been able to have a short memory when it comes to field goal attempts that don't fall.
"As I matured, I started to not care about missed shots," Cress said. "I mean, everybody misses shots. You can't let it get you down."
But the strides Cress has made are not limited to his mind-set on the court.
Far from it.
"I remember sitting down with Steve right after his freshman season, and I told him that he had a chance to be a dominant player," said Planets coach Rob Carmody.
"The big difference came in the summer in between his sophomore and junior years," added Carmody. "He worked his tail off and went from being strictly a post player to a guy who can step out and hit the 3-pointer."
Currently averaging 20.6 points, Cress also is a monster on the boards, averaging 12.4 rebounds per contest.
Cress and the Planets are 3-3 in Section 1-AAA entering Friday's game with Highlands.While his high school career is far from over, Cress has left an impression on Mars fans, his teammates and coaches."I can't think of another player I've coached that has the combination of size and strength that Steve has," said Carmody.Like Cress, the 6-foot-5 Briggs bided his time and learned from the veterans who led the Knights during his freshman campaign of 2004-05."My freshman season is when I was most influenced," said Briggs. "I remember watching players like Ryan Hollihan, Ryan Ziacik and Jordan Shoop."I didn't play a whole lot, but I learned so much from those guys."Making his first start during his sophomore season, Briggs paid immediate dividends.He ended that season averaging 14.9 points and a team-leading 9.4 rebounds per game and was a Butler Eagle third-team pick.Now, two years later, Briggs continues to put up big numbers — he's averaging 16.9 points and 9.2 rebounds every game — but is not driven by them."The 1,000 points in a career has never been a big concern of mine," he said. "I just know that, since my freshman year, I've worked very hard to get where I'm at."That attitude, along with his clutch play, has made second-year coach Chris Andreassi one of Briggs' biggest fans."He steps up at critical times," Andreassi said. "Over the last couple of years, in big moments and big games, he's been clutch."
