Athlete of the Week is Northport basketball player Nick Watts
Nick Watts had 42 points and a school-record 12 three-pointers for Northport last Monday night at Connetquot. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Northport senior Nick Watts couldn’t miss. After one shot he felt good, after two he felt confident, after the third he knew he was hot. Finally, after making his fourth consecutive three-pointer in under two minutes he was on the verge of doing something special.
Watts easily put forth the greatest performance of his high school career Monday night, knocking down 10 three-pointers in the first quarter, to amass 30 points after the initial period. He finished the game with 42 points, hitting 12 three-pointers, completely shattering the previous record of made threes (nine) in just one quarter. The performance came during a Suffolk League II win, 70-42, over Connetquot to remain unbeaten in the league. The Tigers are 5-0.
"I have never seen or coached a kid in the zone like that. He was completely in the zone and it was a result of all the offseason hours in the gym," Northport coach Andrew D’Eloia said.
Watts got so hot that his coach didn’t want to pull him from the game, so he played the entire first quarter. His teammates recognized what was happening, so they kept feeding him the ball. Watts put forward this scintillating shooting performance on the road and inspired the home Connetquot crowd — who seemed to appreciate something special right before their eyes. It even had the home crowd applauding.
"Honestly it felt like a home game after a while because I think the crowd wanted to see me succeed a little bit," Watts said.
Watts credits a lot of his performance to the way he was being played defensively.
"In the beginning of the game they didn’t see me as much of a threat from the three-point line because they were guarding me a little far away, so I used my length and just shot over them," Watts said. "Then they started to guard up but then I was a little too hot I’d say."
Hot was an understatement, as Watts would go on to give a historic performance doubling his career high of 21 points, where he only connected on three three-pointers in that contest.
Watts contributed on all areas of the floor, also grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking seven shots to go along with his 42 points — in just 16 minutes of play.
"The greatest thing about Nick is that he is the ultimate team player, he is a captain, a leader … and it’s special for a high school athlete to not make something like this about themselves. He’s all about the team," D’Eloia said.
