It was Monday night, and Santa Monica High students had plenty of choices for entertainment. They could have been hanging at the pier or playing video games. Instead, the student section was filled as if it were a Friday night because the state’s leading scorer in high school basketball, Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood, was making an appearance.
The students were polite to start the game, giving him some applause during introductions. Eventually, they started chanting early on, “Over-rated.” By game’s end, they were a little quiet after Inglewood’s 117-76 victory that featured 50 points by Crowe.
Inglewood is 18-5 and 4-0 in the Ocean League. The Sentinels will be a Division 1 playoff team. Crowe is 17 years old and still beating up on players who were held back a grade or two. He made seven threes and got his share of assists to 6-foot-7 junior David Conerly, who scored 20 points.
Crowe has scored more than 4,000 points in his career, and with Inglewood putting on a full-court press from start to finish against everybody, his record point total will only continue to climb.
Inglewood has made a couple trips to Missouri, the state where Crowe will play college ball. Asked if he has signed autographs in Missouri, Crowe said, “A bunch.”
Santa Monica has a 6-6 sophomore, Leo Pomianek, who only became eligible on Dec. 26 after playing at St. Monica as a freshman. He scored a career-high 30 points and got experience trying to guard Crowe.
Crowe has been a three-year All-CIF player and will be leaving California as the No. 1 scorer in state history.
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