By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.- Sprague’s Braxton Long has really been dishing it out the ball this season as a senior.
Entering this year, Long was sitting just inside the Top 10 All-Time in the Olympians Boys Basketball program with assists. And within 23 games this season, that number went up in a hurry as the Olympians enter their final game of the regular season against West Salem Friday as Long surpassed the 300 career assist mark this season. Achieving the milestone against South Salem on February 18 that moved him to fourth All-Time on the Sprague Career Assist List.
And not to mention that he’s done it in three years as a Varsity player for the Olys.
“It helps out the team a lot. My teammates are great scorers like Jarod (Stanley) and Anthony (Best), they make it easy for me. All I need to do is to get it to them, and they can do the rest. Elijah (Schmidt) hits a lot of three’s, and everyone can score on this team. It actually makes it easy for me,” said Long. “(The milestone) feels really special to me. I worked really hard, I didn’t really get to play my freshman year, and I’ve been working hard since I got on varsity, and it feels great to be up there.
“It’s always been a key part of my game seeing who’s open and stuff. It’s helped me get all of those assists, I just see the game very well.”
Sitting on 19-4 on the season going into their game on Friday, Sprague’s on the verge of their first 20-win season since the 2017-2018 season, and they’ll know they will be tested by the Titans who will look to bolster their playoff stock going into the 6A Playoffs that start next week.
“It will be huge. It’s going to give us a lot of momentum with willingness to fight, be ready to go into the playoffs,” Long said.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
