by Alex Schwartz

I made my way to Pennsbury (PA) High School last night to witness history. Falcons wing Dalton Pepper '09, a West Virginia-signee, was sitting at 1,996 career points and was facing the Neshaminy (PA) Redskins—who feature freshman phenom Ryan Arcidiacono '12 and Rutgers-football signee Paul Carrezola '09—on senior night at the Falcons' Nest. The matchup was the final home game of the regular season. Pepper is Pennsbury's all-time scoring leader, breaking his father's record this season. The talented athletic specimen is the leader of a fantastic Pennsbury squad that includes Philadelphia University-commit Eddie DiRugeris '09, Kenyon-bound Marcus Healey '09, and football star Dante Devine '10—the nephew of Neshaminy's head coach. When I caught up with Pepper the day before the game, he told me "[it's] definitely going to be real emotional."
The Falcons clearly wanted Pepper to get the milestone out of the way early, giving him the ball on all of their early possessions. The senior finally made it happen with the clock showing 6:00 flat, exactly two minutes into the game. After an early deuce to put him at 1,998, Dalton drained a pull-up three to make it 5-3 Falcons and the game was stopped to honor him. Pepper ended up scoring 12 points in the first quarter and 17 total in the half, along with an assist. I had to leave at halftime-with the Falcons leading 31-20—but the home team rolled to a 67-45 win on Pepper's big night.
Dalton is a great player and a nice kid, one very deserving of this accomplishment. Congratulations to Dalton Pepper on scoring 2,000 career points in high school.

Note- photo is of Pepper with his parents at midcourt before the game when the seniors were honored; the Pennsbury cheering section is in the background