WESTHAMPTON — Justin Forest stepped to the free throw line. Not even 10 seconds had ticked off the clock when the Hampshire Regional star was fouled going to the rim by Northampton’s Jack Power.
Forest stood at the line and missed the first free throw. He still had one more shot to take. When he missed the second free throw, the ball bounced off the rim and Forest, with three Northampton defenders charging in after him, laid it in into the basket, cementing himself into school history in the process.
Forest, embracing the moment but keeping calm, jogged over to the bench to celebrate with his teammates. He became the 18th player in school history overall to join the 1,000 point club. For the senior, whose name will be added to the coveted banner on the wall, the moment was surreal.
“I’ve stared at that banner ever since I’ve been here,” said Forest, who entered the night with 998 career points. “To know that my name is gonna be a part of it is amazing.”
Forest became the first Hampshire boys basketball player to reach 1,000 since Branden Labrie accomplished the feat in a game against Palmer back in 2010. He finished his career with 1,040 points.
Not only did Forest pass the 1,000-point mark, but he finished with 33 points on the night to help the Red Raiders secure a wild 82-75 overtime victory.
“I’m so proud of Justin,” said Hampshire Regional head coach Lee Mollison. “During every offseason, he worked really, really hard. He would practice with a purpose and every year, he came back better and better.”
For Mollison, the milestone was particularly special to him because of his connection to the senior.
“Justin’s first year on varsity was my first year as head coach at Hampshire,” said Mollison. “Over the years, we’ve grown together and it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s coming to an end.”
Though the night ended on a high note for the Raiders, Thursday’s game against Northampton was a long and physical one. By the middle of overtime, both Jack Power and Gavin Dafonte had fouled out for the Blue Devils.
Hampshire’s Jamil Rodriguez (20 points) tossed the exclamation mark on the game in OT when a forced turnover led to a fast break. Rodriguez picked up the ball and dunked it, igniting the bench and the small crowd in attendance.
“I was actually yelling at Jamil to lay the ball up,” said Mollison with a laugh. “He’d missed a few of those earlier in the season and those were tight games. At that point, it was only a two-point game so if he misses it, that could be a major difference so I was a little worried.”
Forest was also on the bench when his teammate slammed it home, having fouled out himself.
“I had 100-percent faith they would pull through even with me out of the game,” said the senior of his teammates.
The Raiders (5-5) put themselves back at the .500 mark after losing the first five games of the season. Mollison, who finally has all of his players back, was ecstatic with the result of the game.
“I knew that once we had the team back together in full, we had a good chance at beating them,” he said. “We’ve never put up that kind of offense before and it’s great to see it finally coming together.”
Seth Finnessey had another huge game for Northampton, scoring 29 points to power the visitors. Kelvin Perez went for 16 points. Dylan Rohan had 12 points for Hampshire.