King sets record, leads VSS to semis

“He’s the most prolific basketball player ever to play here.”

That’s what Matt Johnsen, head coach of Valley Stream South High School’s boys’ basketball team, had to say about his team’s leading scorer, Dana King, prior to the Falcons’ opening round playoff game against Great Neck North last weekend, which they won comfortably. King, 17, who is in his final year on the team, reached a mark that no other male student has done before in school history: the 1,000-point plateau. 

King’s milestone achievement came on Feb. 1 against Sewanhaka. Following the whistle after he reached 1,000 points, the game was stopped for a minute, Johnsen said, while everyone in attendance gave King a standing ovation.

For King, a three-year starting point guard, reaching 1,000 points was significant but it wasn’t his first personal triumph this season. On Jan. 17, he became the team’s all-time scoring leader. The record he broke — 914 career points by 1965 graduate Rich Lobell — stood for nearly 50 years. “I was happy,” King said of taking over the top scoring spot. “I wanted to break it really bad.” 

King added that coming into the season, he was unaware that he was on the verge of breaking the all-time record and it wasn’t until Johnsen informed him at a practice during the season that he first made it a goal. When he sunk a routine jump shot to give him the record, King said it was a nice feeling and special to have his family in attendance cheering him on.

King was honored for scoring 1,000 points on Feb. 10 at a halftime ceremony during a game against Lynbrook.

Johnsen said that King is a model athlete, describing him as a quiet person who always gives his best effort and leads by example. “He is a dream,” Johnsen said. “He’s not a real vocal leader but you feed off the way he plays. He’s always going hard and that’s what [his teammates] feed off.”