WESTFIELD — Sam Brigham’s list of accomplishments seemingly grows every day.
But Wednesday was particularly eventful for the Pope Francis senior guard.
Brigham became just the third boys basketball player in Western Massachusetts history to reach 2,000 career points, and he accomplished the feat during the Cardinals’ 63-42 victory over Chicopee Comp in the Class A title game at Westfield High School.
Brigham joined Pioneer Valley’s Adam Harrington (1994-98, 2,347 points) and Hopkins Academy’s Steve Zieja (1995-99, 2,033) as members of the exclusive club.
A fourth straight sectional title for the program, and a milestone that hasn’t been hit in over 25 years?
Not too shabby for the humble guard.
“It’s a great accomplishment,” Brigham began after Wednesday’s win. “I’m proud of it. I try not to gloat or brag about it. I try to, especially tonight, focus on the game and getting a win, winning a Western Mass. ‘ship. I think that’s more important. The state ‘ship is more important.
“But, 2,000 points, it kind of just came as I went, which is a great accomplishment. But I really wasn’t looking for it.”
The milestone moment came with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game. Sitting at 1,998 points, Brigham drove to the basket, put up a runner in the lane and watched the ball hit just about every part of the rim before dropping through. It gave the Cardinals a 44-33 lead, and their advantage never dipped below double digits the rest of the way.
“He knew about it, we knew about it, but we didn’t spend much time talking about it at all,” said Pope Francis coach Justin Dalessio of the impending milestone. “He’s all about the team and doing the right things, but when he got it tonight, I could tell he could take a breath and then I think he rattled off a couple more points after that.
“But he’s a terrific player. I mean, he’s the best player, in my opinion, in Western Mass., a top guy in the state, and he’s going to be a great college player. He scored 2,000 points in only four years. Granted, he was with us for two years, but that’s really, really hard to do. He can score, that’s his specialty, so we’re proud of him.”
Brigham began his high school basketball career at St. Mary’s in Westfield, showing he could score from the very beginning as he dropped 23 points in his first-ever varsity game as a freshman against Ludlow.
“I was just trying to carve out a role, and now we’re here,” recalled Brigham of his freshman year.
Brigham scored 470 points as a freshman for the Saints, then followed that up with a 628-point campaign as a sophomore — good enough for a healthy 31.4 point-per-game average.
After two years at St. Mary’s, Brigham made the leap to Pope Francis, where he joined an already established powerhouse program. The Cardinals had won two straight Class A titles when Brigham came on board prior to his junior year, but he quickly fit into the lineup and ultimately racked up 414 points over the course of the season.
“We knew he was a good player, but there was no special treatment or anything like that,” said Dalessio. “And that’s what’s great about our guys is we treat them all the same. When he came in, he bought right into it. It wasn’t about Sam Brigham, it was about our team, and that just carried over this year.
“He works really hard at it, and he just has a way of scoring. So he just said, I’ll do whatever it takes. So if it meant not scoring or playing defense or rebounding or finding people, he’s a great team player.”
This season, he’s averaging 23.8 points per game in 21 games, putting him at 499 overall.
Pope Francis junior Jordan Dalessio said Brigham has the demeanor necessary to be a leader — on and off the court.
“I think he’s a really great player. A lot of people believe in him, he believes in himself. He’s kind of got that confidence with him,” said Dalessio. “He’s a great guy, I love hanging out with him. And then on the court, he locks in and he does what he has to do. Obviously, you see that with the 2,000 points. So I think he’s a really good player and he has a lot of potential to do something greater than this.”
Now with 2,011 points following the 25-point effort in the win over Comp, Brigham will look to add to that total when the Cardinals play in the MIAA Division II state tournament next week.
