1,000 Points: Canery Reaches Rare Milestone

It happened in an instant. During a foul shot. And when it did, he couldn’t know for sure that the point put him over the edge. On the free-throw line, Malaquias Canery dribbled, leaned back and shot. When the ball dropped through the net, the single digit on the scoreboard signalled his 1,000th point with the Clinton Warriors.

“I’ve been working hard at it,” said Canery. “It was definitely special.”

The 1,000-point free-throw happened early in a second quarter of a game against Watertown in the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central (ITC) Holiday Invitational Tournament last Tuesday. The Warriors lost 87-64.

Canery had 28 of Clinton’s points on the day. At the end of the game, his career point total climbed further to 1,016.

To some degree, the 1,000-point mark was in Canery’s basketball crosshairs since the moment he first time he dribbled a ball. He said he assumed he would get it in the Watertown match—he only had 12 points to go—but his focus on the court was playing his best for the team. In the process, he ended up going above and beyond that.

Canery was named to the ITC all-tournament team. Though the Warriors came in fourth place, he scored more points than any other player in the two-game event, tallying a total of 57 points.

Asenior at Clinton High School, Canery is a scholar in the A Better Chance program in Clinton and a native of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Because of the distance between his high school and his home base, his family rarely gets to see him play. This game—which happened during the school holiday break—was an exception with his mother, Norma Ortega, sitting in the stands.

“I got the [game] ball and I handed it to her,” said Canery. “It was a good moment. It was like one of those Kodak moments. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Handing Canery the game ball was his head coach James Sojda, who was equally proud of the achievement and said that the senior guard has been “a pleasure to coach.”

“Mala has never been satisfied with his performance, and continues to work hard no matter how well he does,” said Sojda. “[He] deserves this accomplishment due to the numerous hours of training he spends working on his game.”

The Warriors have been winless since their meeting with the Adirondack Wildcats on Dec. 15, their first league competition of the season. Strapped with a losing record, the Warriors have been kept in the game during tough competitions against schools like VVS and the state-ranked Syracuse Academy of Science thanks to Canery’s efforts, both through his point tally and his leadership in the locker room as a co-captain with fellow senior Jack Hughes.

“Mala leads by example by never giving up and hustling on every play regardless of the score,” said Sojda. “He is an extension of the coaching staff, and has really embodied the hardworking values of the Clinton Warriors basketball program.”

Canery’s other stats are also impressive—56 3-point baskets, 167 rebounds and 60 career games played (he has only missed four games). This is his fourth season with the Warriors varsity team and he’s started in every one.

At the start of the 2014–15 season, another career achievement came into view: an all-time career school scoring record.

Canery is making a run at becoming the all-time high scorer at Clinton High School. The record, set at 1,281 points, is currently held by CCS powerhouse forward Mack Spellman, who set it during his time with the Warriors throughout the 2002–2005 seasons.

Still 265 points aways with only 11 games to play in the regular season means Canery needs roughly 24 points per game to reach the mark. But averaging 21.6 points per game this season—28.5 points in the last two games—the goal does not seem out of reach.

With the honor just in front of him, Canery’s game plan won’t change. He’ll stick that note in the back of his mind and keep working to help his team win games.

“It’s definitely a goal, just like the 1,000 points was a goal,” he said, “but I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”

Clinton is currently 1-7 overall and 1-0 in Division I of the Center State Conference. They face Camden away on Wednesday. Their next league game is against Sherburne-Earlville away on Friday.