Lake Placid’s Seb Cecunjanin lays up his 1,000th career point during a home basketball game against Schroon Lake/Newcomb on Feb. 5. (Provided photo — Alicia Brandes)

LAKE PLACID — Just outside the Lake Placid High School gymnasium, there’s a trophy case with three basketballs for each of the school’s 1,000-point scorers.

None of them have been touched years. But soon, they’ll need to rearranged to make room for a fourth ball.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Seb Cecunjanin added his name to the short list when he scored on a breakaway layup, with less than 1 minute, 50 seconds remaining in the first quarter against a tough Schroon Lake/Newcomb team.

Almost instantly, a packed gymnasium — which may have had more in attendance for a basketball game than ever before — erupted.

“I worked so hard for this,” Cecunjanin said after the game. “I’ve put in a lot and I couldn’t imagine anything better than this, the crowd and everyone that came out to support me. I want to thank my family, my friends, all of my coaches over the years and I just love that they support me and keep bringing me up everyday.”

The Blue Bombers’ senior captain finished the game with a team-high 22 points. However, the visiting Wild Huskies walked away with a 69-41 victory, to notch their ninth straight victory.

Schroon Lake/Newcomb’s Nate Melville scored a game-high 32 points, while Austin Hartwell had 26. They helped the team improve to 14-3.

Caleb Wylie added 12 points for the Blue Bombers, which included four 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Brendan Murphy scored four points and Hugh Kissel had three.

“It’s hard to slow (Murphy) down because he just works so hard underneath,” Lake Placid’s head coach Brian Brandes said, adding he was proud of how his team never gave up despite falling to 3-13 overall.

The Blue Bombers knew they had their work cut out for them against the reigning Section VII, Class D champions, especially when the Wild Huskies jumped out to a 21-7 lead before Cecunjanin netted his 1,000th point.

Even after that moment, the Schroon Lake/Newcomb extended its lead in the second and third quarters, outscoring Lake Placid 38-24 during that stretch.

However, Cecunjanin gave life back to the Lake Placid crowd when he drained a near half-court buzzer beater 3-pointer to close out to the third quarter.

It encapsulated what could be described as “his night,” especially since it’s been awhile since a Blue Bombers basketball program has had a player reach 1,000 points in a career.

Most recently, Megan Riley, the school’s lone girls hooper to achieve the milestone, netted her 1,000th in 2011.

The last boys player was even longer — well before Cecunjanin was born — when the late Aaron Greene achieved the feat in 2001. The first-ever to do it for Lake Placid was Nip Rogers, who scored his 1,000th in 1978.

“That means a lot because I’m the fourth person to do it,” Cecunjanin said. “And the last person to do it was in 2011 and I’ve just worked so hard for it.”

Cecunjanin, a four-year star for the Blue Bombers, needed just two points heading into the Feb. 5 game and there was little doubt that he’d be able to connect on his 1,000th. Cecunjanin loves to shoot.

“When I see an open shot I want to take it,” he said.

And most of the time, it goes in. It’s why of his 66 career varsity games, he’s only been shutout once. And that just so happened to be his first-ever game.

“There’s a difference between a shooter and a scorer, and Seb is a scorer,” Brandes said. “He’ll find a way to score, and he has over 1,000 times.”

Brandes, who has coached Cecunjanin the past four years, described him as a “gym rat,” who has never stopped working. But what really stands out about Cecunjanin is the type of person he is off the court.

“He would be just as happy to score 20 (points) as he would to have 10 assists and 10 rebounds,” Brandes said. “He’s just a super good teammate, good leader and both he and Owen have made great captains this year.”