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Mr. 1,000

Cam Young becomes 41st Bobcat in Quinnpiac men’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points

By on January 29, 2019

Morgan Tencza | The Quinnipiac Chronicle
Cam Young never thought he’d be here. 

A Los Angeles native, the Quinnipiac graduate student guard couldn’t have even dreamed up these past two years.

Young scored his 1,000th career point as a Bobcat on Sunday after a first-half 3-pointer, becoming just the 41st player in program history to reach the milestone.

“It’s big – I’ve been through a lot at this school,” Young said. “I’ve had a great opportunity over the past two years and I’m happy I’ve seized that opportunity.”

Young was quick to specify that he’s had this great opportunity over the past two years, even though he’s been a Bobcat for three. That’s because year one didn’t go according to plan.

After transferring in from Arizona Western College for the 2016-17 season, Young had two years to play Division I basketball. Then-Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore limited Young’s playing time though, and the guard played just eight total minutes that season.

Moore was fired after the season and Young was given a new basketball life. Head coach Baker Dunleavy, hired in March of 2017, would be quick to tell you that even he didn’t know Young had this in him.

“When I took the job I would’ve said ‘Who’s Cam Young?’

“It’s incredible what he’s done. Right when we got started last season, he started pretty aggressively and very capably offensively. He’s allowed us to coach him and teach him to get him better, but he’s a talented offensive player.”

Morgan Tencza | The Quinnipiac Chronicle
Last season, Young set the Quinnipiac single-season scoring record for Division I with 622 points (18.8 per game). He finished the year as a Second-Team All-MAAC selection and was instrumental on the Bobcats’ run to the MAAC semifinals.

“It sucks knowing I’m not going to be able to go to war with my guys, practice every day,” Young said after the Bobcats were eliminated last season. “It puts me down a little bit, but I love the way that we ended our season. I feel like we fought all season and that’s something people can say about us.”

After one huge year – one of the best year’s in Quinnipiac history – Young’s career as a Bobcat appeared to be over. He graduated in May, but Quinnipiac was still petitioning to the NCAA. The school argued that Young’s junior season (the eight minute season) should qualify as a redshirt. Essentially, a player is granted four years of eligibility, so the school argued that he didn’t play enough for that year to count as one of the four.

On May 31, 2018, the NCAA granted Young a waiver – he could play one more season.

Young has made the most of his true final season. He’s averaging 20.8 points per game and has scored 20 or more in eight of the Bobcats’ last nine games. He’s also shot at or above 50 percent in six of seven.

Even though he’s been scoring the ball his whole life, this milestone is something Young didn’t see coming.

“To be honest, 1,000 points is something I never really thought of,” Young said. “Coming from junior college and only having two years, I never thought it would be something I would get.”

Now, it looks like Young will go down as one of the best scorers in Quinnipiac history.

He scored his 1,000th point in just 58 games. The last three Quinnipiac 1,000-point scorers (Chaise Daniels ‘18, Zaid Hearst ‘15, Ousmane Drame ‘15) did it in 107, 92 and 98 games, respectively.

He’s on pace to break his own scoring record, and Quinnipiac (5-3) is well-positioned to make a run in the MAAC Tournament.

What a difference two years can make.

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