OLIVESBURG — Evan Hamilton is one of the most prodigious scorers in Crestview history. But the unassuming senior doesn’t possess an overinflated ego to match his super-sized skill set.
On the contrary, Hamilton approaches the game like a pass-first point guard.
“Evan wants to give the ball up,” Crestview coach John Kurtz said after Hamilton scored 16 points in a 67-58 win at Mansfield Christian earlier in the week. “He loves to pass.”
That Hamilton would rather distribute to his teammates and get everyone involved makes his recent accomplishment all the more impressive. He became just the third player in program history to join the 1,000-point club, reaching the milestone in a 60-56 overtime loss to South Central late last month.
Hamilton joins Dave Groff, who scored 1,332 points from 1962 to 1965, and Fred Stimpert (1,170 points, 1977-80) in the exclusive fraternity. Hamilton has 1,053 points heading into Friday’s Firelands Conference showdown at Monroeville.
“It means a lot to me,” Hamilton said. “There have been a lot of great players come through the program who haven’t done it, so it’s really cool to get there.”
Hamilton averaged 14.9 points a game as a sophomore and 14.7 points a game as a junior. He’s averaging 19.2 points a game through 17 games this season.
“We knew Evan would likely get to a thousand this year. We talked to him before the season started and we said it can’t just be about Evan,” said Kurtz, who is in the first year of his second stint with Crestview after coaching the Cougars from 2008 to 2011. “That was an easy sell on my part because he’s never been like that.”
While Hamilton ranks among the Firelands Conference leaders in scoring, he’s hardly a one-man show. Sophomore forward Owen Barker scored a team-high 18 points in the win over the Flames. Senior forward Frank Ardis had nine points, while senior guards Koby Roman and Evan Gibbs each had seven.
“We’ve had good balance all year,” Kurtz said. “We play 10 kids and sometimes as many as 12 and they all have opportunities to score.”
What’s more, the Cougars are winning more frequently than in any time during Hamilton’s career. Crestview is 12-5 this season, matching the win total of the last two years combined with five regular season games to play.
Crestview is guaranteed of its first winning season since 2011, when Kurtz piloted the program to a 17-6 record and a sectional title.
“Coach has a way of making us play real hard,” Hamilton said. “He’s a great coach.”
While a Firelands Conference title is out of reach, Crestview is on course to finish in the top half of the league standings since 2011. The Cougars are currently tied for third in the FC standings with Norwalk St. Paul at 7-4, four games behind league-leading Western Reserve and two behind South Central.
“It means a lot to us to still have big games coming up,” Hamilton said. “We’re playing well and that should get us ready for the tournament.”
