JACKSON TWP — High school coaches often speak of the need for players to improve their game.

Seneca Valley's Christian Durbin has spent the last four seasons doing just that.

With a layup late in the first quarter of the Raiders' game at Shaler Tuesday night, the senior point guard reached 1,000 career points.

He joined Hermie Carmichael, Andy Podbielski and Justin Ziegler as the only SV boys basketball players to do so.

“It means a lot to me,” said Durbin, a resident of Harmony. “Being just the fourth guy in school history to get to 1,000, it shows all the time I spent in the gym shooting around has paid off.”

“He's been a competitor since day one,” said SV coach Vic Giannotta. “He's gotten better every year.”

Durbin enters Friday's home game against Pine-Richland with 1,010 career points, but personal milestones were the furthest thing from his mind in the late fall of 2007.

At the time, Durbin was a 5-foot-7 freshman who was just glad to be in the starting lineup.

“Being a point guard, it's a position that the other players look to for leadership,” said Durbin. “It's tough to expect juniors and seniors to look up to a freshman, but I knew I could play at the varsity level.”

The 2007-08 season yielded 95 points for Durbin, who helped the Raiders qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.

By the end of the next season, Durbin had established himself as a legitimate scorer, averaging 13 points over the last seven contests, which included trips to the WPIAL and PIAA playoffs.

During his junior campaign, Durbin went through a five-game stretch in which he averaged 23 points, including his career-high of 29 against Central Catholic.

He is currently averaging 16.8 points per game.

And then there are the assists. No official career assist record exists at Seneca Valley, but Durbin has to be at or near the top of the list. He averaged six per game between his sophomore and junior season.

It's a statistic Durbin takes very seriously. After all, he grew up idolizing Pete Maravich, who tallied 3,563 assists in a 10-year NBA career.

Maravich was a master of the head fake and no-look pass, moves Durbin has used frequently this season.

“My passes are no where near like the ones he made,” Durbin said. “He was the most unique player of all time. He could score and his passing ability was amazing.”

Durbin and the Raiders (8-10, 3-6) still have hopes of making the playoffs, but this season hasn't gone according to plan.

Like last season, Seneca Valley's close section losses could lead to the team missing the postseason.

“I'd rather score 10 points per game and get to the playoffs than score 20 and miss them,” Durbin said. “It's been frustrating.”

No matter when this season concludes, Durbin is planning on playing more basketball.

“I want to play in college,” he said. “Either Division II or III, and I'd like to stay close to home.”