Mills contends for 1,000th point – WyoToday.com

By Shawn O’Brate

SHOSHONI – During the 2022-23 season, we saw Fremont County basketball players surpass the 1,000-point mark in their careers with Ryan Wells at Dubois, Wylie Shearer at Wind River, and now another season can be added to the list during this historic event: Shoshoni’s Alex Mills.

Mills, a senior at Shoshoni High School, dropped his 100th point on the road last weekend against Wright. Entering the game, Mills needed 16 points to eclipse 1,000 points, and he finally hit the bottom of the net for a 16th point late in the third quarter.

Max Mills, head coach and athletic director for the Shoshoni Lady Wranglers, was in attendance with his wife, Christina, head and head volleyball coach, and couldn’t be more excited to witness their son cross that line in person years later. work on the court.

“Being a part of it, watching him from a young age and seeing the time and effort he’s put in to become this great player and this great person, it’s so fun,” Max Mills said.

In addition to 1,000 points on Mills’ resume, he has also eclipsed 500 assists and is approaching 500 rebounds as well. But to his father’s surprise, his assist numbers have always represented who Alex is inside.

“He’s always been like that since fifth grade,” Max said of his son. “I remember when he was little there was a play where they were in the bigs and Alex got a steal and went for a breakaway and instead passed it to one of his teammates who ended up scoring.

Max said that when he asked Alex about the assist after a fifth-grade game, he simply replied, “Did you see his face? He was so excited! He didn’t score a point the whole game!” which he stated was “just as important”.

After Mills scored his 1,000th point, the Wright Panthers announcer gave Alex a sharp shout at the behest of Alex’s parents, surprising some of the other parents and kids in the gym who played on travel teams with Alex when they were younger. . Everyone in the gym celebrated with Mills afterward, and even though the Wranglers lost 67-58, the bus ride home around Mills was still very happy.

Mills scored 19 points in the loss to Wright, matching his 16.1 points per game (ppg) average this season. In addition to 16.1 ppg, which ranks second on the team behind Mills’ longtime friend and teammate Trey Fike (below), he also averages 7.3 rebounds per game, 7.3 assists per game and nearly one block per game — all team high season.

Many of those numbers are nearly identical to his production last season as a junior, when he averaged 14.3 ppg, 7.3 rebounds per game and 7.6 assists per game en route to an appearance in the 2A Boys’ State Basketball Tournament.

Now that this accomplishment is achieved, another goal is set for both Alex and Coach Mills:

“The goal for everybody is pretty much to win two games in the regionals and do what we can to get that trophy,” Coach Mills said. “We’ve got three big conference games and that’s where it all starts … how many of these next three games can we win?”

The Shoshoni Wranglers are currently 8-8 and still waiting for their first conference win, while Coach Mills’ Lady Wranglers are 9-9 on the season and 1-2 in conference play, just one spot behind Rocky Mountain (11-6 3 -0).

Both teams play against Wind River this Friday in the Wranglers gym, starting with the varsity girls at 5:30 p.m., followed shortly by the boys’ game. The Wind River Lady Cougars are currently behind the Lady Wranglers at (4-13, 1-2), while the boys are in second place in the 2A Northwest Quadrant at (8-8, 2-1).

Congratulations Alex and enjoy the rest of your senior season! Good luck during the last few weeks of your final basketball season as a Wrangler!