Duxbury’s Brust
tops point plateau
Mark Brust reaches
milestone, helps Duxbury
stay unbeaten
To be exact, however, Duxbury senior guard Mark Brust had 1,002 career points when play stopped to acknowledge an accomplishment only 10 previous Duxbury players have achieved. Brust, who hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to seal the deal, nearly reached the milestone by scoring the game’s first seven points.
“My teammates just found me in open spots and it looked like it worked out,” he said after scoring a game-high 27 in the 71-54 victory. “(Getting me the ball) wasn’t the plan ... it was just whatever was open, the best shot for our team and that’s just what happened.”
Brust wore a modest expression while coaches and players from both teams hugged and congratulated him.
Pembroke coach Paul Wholey, who has instructed Brust at his summer camp, wished Brust didn’t reach 1,000 so early in the contest.
“I’m looking forward to seeing if we can keep him to about eight points,” Wholey said before his senior center, Matt Devine, led the Titans (5-4) with 26. “(Brust) deserves the acknowledgement and I’ll enjoy it for him and his family and then we’ll get right back to business.”
Summer camp was also where Duxbury coach Gordon Cushing first saw Brust play as a fifth grader. Cushing said the boy played so hard one day he almost hyperventilated.
“I had to get paper bag for him to breathe into and call an ambulance,” Cushing said. “He was fine and he wanted to go back in and play instead of take the rest of the day off.
Brust just assumed play went on last night too.
Cushing said Brust’s modesty and team play has always been his M.O.
“I just always did what the team needed me to do when I was younger,” said Brust. “That was definitely to get the ball to some good players I was playing with. As time came on I started shooting more and my teammates helped me out by making good passes and it made it easier to score. I don’t think I had (a scoring touch) when I was an underclassmen. I think I definitely picked it up from people I was playing with.”
But while Brust is averaging 25 points per game this season, scoring wasn’t his M.O. four years ago as the sixth man on the Dragon’s Division 2 state championship team — although he did hit a late free throw to help ice the title game.
“To ask a freshman to step up and hit rim is pretty tough and he was able to knock one down,” Cushing said.
But Duxbury (11-0) hasn’t advanced past the first round of the tournament since, a fate the Bates College-bound guard will try to change this spring.
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