Nativity’s Jeff Yordy was mentored by his father Mike, a star at Saint Clair in the late 1980s.
Tamaqua’s Brett Kosciolek has fond memories of playing HORSE with his aunt Anne Marie Kosciolek, one of the best female players in Pennsylvania at Marian in the 1970s.
When he was in junior high, Pottsville’s Travis Blankenhorn used to watch former Pottsville standout Nick Schlitzer display his skills for the Crimson Tide.
Yordy, Kosciolek and Blankenhorn were introduced to basketball at an early age and the game has remained a part of each for their entire lives. It likely always will.
The Schuylkill League is known for its defense, but the three have excelled offensively as Yordy (25.0 points per game), Kosciolek (18.8 ppg) and Blankenhorn (16.5 ppg) finished 1-2-3 in the league in scoring average last season.
The three are back for their senior seasons, bringing with them a special feat in a defensive-oriented league: All three are returning 1,000-point scorers. Yordy has 1,191 career points, Blankenhorn 1,106 and Kosciolek 1,034.
The three hit the century mark last season.
Yordy was first, reaching his milestone Jan. 27, 2014, with a 37-point performance on Lawton’s Hill against Weatherly, a 79-48 Hilltoppers’ victory. Kosciolek was next, hitting the mark Feb. 6, 2014, scoring 22 points in a 59-40 victory at Panther Valley. Blankenhorn followed, scoring 10 on Feb. 12, 2014, a 56-30 victory over Williams Valley in the Schuylkill League semifinals at Martz Hall.
All three are multi-sport athletes, and what makes them even more unique is that baseball, not basketball, is their main sport. Both Blankenhorn (University of Kentucky) and Kosciolek (Rider) have signed NCAA Division I letters of intent to play baseball when they graduate. Yordy is still deciding between Elizabethtown College and Lebanon Valley.
Still, they have fit basketball into their busy athletic careers, and their offensive skills have evolved since they were freshmen. Most important-
ly, the three have also been committed to helping their programs win.
Here’s a look at the high school careers of Yordy, Kosciolek and Blankenhorn and their paths to 1,000 career points and beyond.
Yordy follows in his father’s footsteps
One could say Jeff Yordy was destined to play basketball. Mike Yordy finished with 1,154 career points at Saint Clair from 1985-89, and was also a part of the Saints’ last high school boys’ team after the school closed following his senior year.
“I’ve had a hoop in my living room since I was able to walk,” Jeff Yordy said. “There are pictures of me shooting and stuff.
“My dad loved it and he wanted me to get into it as young as I could.”
Reaching 1,000 career points wasn’t on Yordy’s mind when he was a freshman and he never kept track of his career numbers. It wasn’t until his junior year that he realized the milestone could be reached.
Yordy was also the league’s leading scorer as a sophomore, averaging 17.8 pointer per game. He poured in 596 points last year.
When Yordy first started out, he was mostly a perimeter player. But during his sophomore and junior years, he’s worked on scoring off the dribble and driving to the basket more.
“My sophomore year I knew I was going to play a lot more than my freshman year, so that is what I wanted to work on,” Yordy said. “So I worked on that and got pretty good at it. And last year I kept getting better.”
The Hilltoppers have also become a winning program during Yordy’s time at Nativity, going 29-19 the past two seasons. Last year the Hilltoppers had their best season in seven years, going 16-7 overall and reaching the District 11 Class A semifinals for the first time since 2007.
Of the three, Yordy is the only one that takes part in any extensive organized basketball over the summer in a league in Tamaqua, while playing American Legion baseball for Schuylkill Valley.
Yordy played golf for Nativity his sophomore and junior years. This past fall, went out for football for the first time in high school and was a standout receiver for the Hilltoppers, leading the area with 51 catches for 1,045 yards and 17 touchdowns.
One area Yordy feels he needs to improve upon is his 67 percent career foul-shooting average. He is the only experienced scorer returning for Nativity and is working on being able to distribute the basketball more to his teammates.
Kosciolek key part of Tamaqua’s revival
Basketball was in Brett Kosciolek’s family, too.
His father Caszy, who is in his fourth season as the Blue Raiders’ head coach, also played the sport. Brett figures he picked up a ball when he was 2 years old, shooting baskets at a Little Tykes hoop. He also remembers playing HORSE with his aunt Ann Marie (Kosciolek) Clausius, who scored 2,164 career points at Marian from 1972-76. She was also Pennsylvania’s first female to score 2,000 career points in 1976.
The game has stuck with him.
“It is a competitive sport,” he said on why he has stuck with it. “It is fun. I like to challenge myself.”
Kosciolek has been a starter since he was a freshman and had an immediate impact for the Raiders. Getting to 1,000 career points was always a goal of his.
“It was in the back of my mind,” he said. “I knew it was possible. I knew it was going to be challenging, but I did it somehow.”
Kosciolek’s best season was his sophomore year when he scored 390 points, a 16.3 average per game. He scored 320 last season (18.8 per game) and would have had more but missed six games with a concussion.
Kosciolek used to play on travel basketball teams when he was young, but due to baseball he doesn’t play much organized basketball in the offseason and over the summer anymore. He is also used to playing sports year-round and was a member of the Tamaqua football team his freshman and sophomore years.
“I just fit it in,” Kosciolek said of basketball. “We’ve gone from season to season my whole life, pretty much.”
Kosciolek also helped turned the Raiders into a winning program as Tamaqua has gone 27-20 the past two seasons.
At 6-foot-7, Kosciolek has the ability to hit 3-pointers but also score in the paint. He was more of a perimeter player as a freshman and has developed more of an inside game as he’s developed.
That has been a big focus of his work offensively this preseason. Kosciolek is working on his defense, too. He, and rest of the Raiders, know defense is something that has to improve if Tamaqua wants to contend for a Division I title this season and make a run in the District 11 Class AAA playoffs.
“Right now we have the talent to score but if we hold our opponents, we know we can go decently far,” he said.
Blankenhorn helps Tide continue winning ways
Like Yordy and Kosciolek, Blankenhorn doesn’t remember when he first picked up a basketball and has been playing the sport competitively since the Biddy leagues. He grew up watching Schlitzer play for the Crimson Tide and just missed playing along side of him by one year.
“I didn’t get a chance to play with him, but it would have been pretty cool if I did,” Blankenhorn said.
Reaching 1,000 points for his career was always a goal in Blankenhorn’s mind when was a freshman.
“It is kind of like a milestone in your varsity career, making 1,000 points,” he said. “That is what a lot of people talk about. Winning was most important, but making 1,000 points while doing that and helping the team, that is always good.”
Blankenhorn played a complimentary role alongside Brandon Bridy his first two seasons, averaging 11 points per game as a freshman and 13.7 as a sophomore. When Bridy graduated following the 2012-13 season, Blankenhorn stepped up and put up the best offensive numbers of his career last year, scoring 545 points. He was The Republican-Herald Co-Player of the Year with Mahanoy Area’s Dylan Mahmod.
Pottsville went 24-6 in 2013-14, winning its fifth consecutive Division I title and reaching the league championship game for the fifth consecutive year. The Crimson Tide also made it to their first District 11 Class AAA title game since 2010 and won their first PIAA playoff game since 1974.
Blankenhorn was mostly a 3-point shooter as a freshman, but added more dimension to his offensive game by learning to score in the post and drive to basket.
“When I was a freshman I didn’t get a lot of post touches or anything, so I definitely worked on a lot of those moves,” Blankenhorn said. “I felt like my dribbling got better so I could drive more. I felt my game got better as time went on because when I was a freshman, I was primary just a shooter.”
Blankenhorn’s focus this preseason is working on his ball-handling skills.
“I could be a lot better,” he said.
For most of his high-school career, Blankenhorn was a standout in football, too, playing wide receiver, defensive back, punter and kick returner for the Crimson Tide. However, he didn’t go out for football this past fall. Blankenhorn competed in numerous showcase baseball tournaments this past summer in the hopes of getting drafted in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft next June.
He isn’t home much over the summer, so Blankenhorn doesn’t have much of an opportunity to pick up a basketball. Still, the game will always be a part of him even as he turns his attention to baseball for good when he graduates.
“I just love to do it,” Blankenhorn said. “Even when I get older playing baseball, if I am playing baseball when I get older, I am still going to want to play around, shoot around with a basketball with my friends.”
Milestone numbers
Jeff Yordy, Nativity
Date reached 1,000 career points: Jan. 27, 2014, vs. Weatherly
Career point total: 1,191
Career point average: 17.8 in 67 games
Brett Kosciolek, Tamaqua
Date reached 1,000 career points: Feb. 6, 2014, vs. Panther Valley
Career point total: 1,034
Career point average: 16.4 in 63 games
Travis Blankenhorn
Pottsville
Date reached 1,000 career points: Feb. 12, 2014, vs. Williams Valley
Career point total: 1,106
Career point average: 14.5 in 76 games