Fleming cracks 1,000 point plateau as Timothy Christian clicks on all cylinders in season opening win over JFK

Junior Jalen Fleming missed the last game of his sophomore season with a concussion, leaving him 23 points away from 1,000 for his career for the 22.6 point per game scorer. So you could forgive him if he has been thinking about it for the last ten months or so.

He won’t have to think about the next major milestone for a while, as his layup on a fast break with 20.4 second left in the first half of Timothy Christian’s season-opening 66-41 win over visiting JFK gave him 1,001 for his career.

Timothy Christian junior Jalen Fleming’s layup with :20.4 to go in the first half got him past the 1,000 point mark for his career in a GMC Blue Division game against JFK in Piscataway on December 15, 2023. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

It was the only real drama in Piscataway Friday night – in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio – as the Tigers got out to a hot start, a 12-0 run over the first six minutes of the game. Fleming finished with 26, ending his night with 1,003 career points.

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It was also the debut of Chukwudi Raphael-Mamah, a junior who comes in from Nigeria, playing his first varsity game in the states. He finished with ten points, including a pair of mammoth two-handed flushes on fast breaks, while fellow junior Myles Dickerson added 20, including a jam and a trey.

Fleming had three triples in the game.

Timothy Christian led by as many as 32 in the fourth quarter, before Kennedy shrunk the lead a bit with both benches emptied.

JFK sophomore Grant Lorentzen had 13 points in defeat – including a trey – a career high for the sophomore, who – at 2.5 points per game last year – was the leading scorer available for Kennedy.

The Mustangs found out last week they’ll be without their two top returning players through at least mid-January. Junior Marcus Bullock – the top returning scorer at 9.9 points per game – had surgery last Friday on his knee after his known injury turned out to me more serious than originally thought. And senior Matt Cook fractured his pinkie in gym class.

Click below for postgame reaction from Mike Pavlichko, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: