BUFFALO, N.Y. — For 36 years, Christian Laettner was the all-time leading scorer at Nichols School, where the Angola native won two state championships and scored 2,066 points.
But the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame player isn't on that top line anymore on the school's scoring chart. That honor now belongs to Jakye Rainey, a 6-foot-1 guard who broke Laettner's longtime mark on Saturday afternoon.
"I would never have thought I could get this record," Rainey said. "Small kid coming into a private school, I never thought I could get this record."
Rainey scored 36 points during an 88-54 victory against St. Francis to become the school’s all-time leading scorer. Rainey now has 2,074 points during his career at Nichols.
"It was a 36-year-old record, so I was like, '36 will do,' and I think that's what I finished with."
Laettner's fame rose in college, when he helped coach Mike Krzyzewski win two national championships at Duke. He went on to play on the 1992 "Dream Team" that won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1992 NBA Draft, then sent 13 seasons in the league.
Rainey, however, is now the all-time leading scorer for Monsignor Martin and Nichols, adding to a long list of why head coach Matt Bradshaw said Rainey continues to impress him on all levels of the game.
"The moment is never too big for Jakye," Bradshaw said.
"He plays his best basketball in the biggest games and that's a sign of a really good player, a great player. I haven't seen a kid shoot the basketball like that ever. He's pretty exceptional," Bradshaw said.
Rainey and the Nichols Vikings will now take on Canisius High School on Monday night at 6 p.m. for the Manhattan Cup semifinals.
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