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JAN.24, 2023—Pal-Mac varsity boys’ basketball senior Ian Goodness put himself into the school’s history books Monday night.

Goodness became the latest Red Raider hooper to reach 1,000 career points. 

He reached the mark in the fourth quarter of Pal-Mac’s game at home against Hornell.

He joins his brother Paulie Goodness in the 1,000 club. Paulie, a 2022 graduate, hit the mark last season on the road at Lyons.
 

“It’s pretty cool to get the monkey off the back,” Ian said. “For me and my brother to do it back to back is pretty special.”

Goodness’s head coach, Trevor Sanders, said he was excited to see yet another Goodness make history. Sanders has coached the two brothers since they were brought up to varsity in their respective freshman years.

“It just shows the amount of work that they put in, not just their high school years, but their youth years to get to this level,” Sanders said.
 

Goodness knew he needed just 17 points to reach the mark going into the game, but he wanted to try and treat it like any other game.

The Red Raiders jumped out to an early 21-10 lead but soon saw Hornell climb back to tie it just before the half. The team and Goodness was aware he was drawing closer to the 1K, but Sanders felt the team needed to refocus.

He sat down with the team at halftime and gave them a speech he felt helped the players relax.

“I looked at the kids and said, okay, we know he’s close, but that’s not helping us,” Sanders said. “I told them we needed to get back to just playing basketball.”

You could argue Sanders was right. 
 

Goodness and the Red Raiders opened the second half on a hot streak as they outscored Hornell 13-2 in the third quarter. Goodness, of course, scored some points himself, which inched him closer to history.

“I knew at the half we would make adjustments and find a way,” Goodness said.

Did they ever.

With 7:45 to go in the fourth, Ian hit a long three-pointer to bring himself within one point. The crowd caught on that Ian was close, and erupted in cheers. At that point, Sanders said all systems were a go to make the mark.
 

“My first thing is shoot it again,” Sanders said. “Let’s get this done man!”

On the very next possession, Goodness got it done.
 

He quickly grabbed a rebound off a Hornell missed shot and took the ball coast to coast with a layup to make it official. 

The bucket came with less than 7 minutes to go and put Pal-Mac up 16 points.
 

More importantly, it put Goodness in rarified air.

We mentioned his brother also hit 1K, but it had been roughly 22 years since the last Pal-Mac player accomplished the same feat.

The occasion was not lost on Athletic Director Tom Schmandt, who paused the game immediately after Goodness hit the bucket. Goodness was showered with high fives and hugs from his teammates and coaches before he made his way over to Schmandt at the scorer’s table.

Schmandt spoke over the gym’s public address system and praised Ian on his accomplishment. Next came the cherry on top: A basketball in a glass case. Writing on the ball spelled out the 1,000-point milestone.

Pal-Mac won the game 54-38, with Goodness scoring 22 points. He posed for pictures with his family and teammates at midcourt.

He said he was teasing Paulie for reaching the mark sooner, as Paulie reached the mentioned 1K on Feb.18, 2022.

Fun and history aside, Goodness says he and the team are setting their sights on the rest of the season.

“We gotta keep focused the way we have been,” Goodness said. “We’ve been riding high so we’re going to keep our mentality the same way.”

It’s a mindset Sanders backed up.

“We’re going to keep the same way we’ve been playing,” Sanders said. “We just gotta stay focused on our end goal, it’s still out there. But they’re locked in.”

The family could make history again as Paulie and Ian’s sister, Taryn, competes for the Lady Red Raider basketball team.