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Even though the Jan. 19 game had barely begun when Kyler Gregory sank the basketball through the hoop, the clock stopped and a brief celebration began.
 

The crowd in Western Alamance High School’s gym stood and cheered for the 18-year-old senior because he’d reached a milestone — scoring 1,000 points for the Warriors.
 

“It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders,” Gregory said. “I kind of got emotional, and at the same time I didn’t want to lose focus on the game.”
 

During the game against Eastern Guilford High School, some of Gregory’s friends in the crowd wore T-shirts they’d painted with the name “Mr. 1000.”
 

Gregory averages about 24 points and 14 rebounds per game. He began playing basketball around age 5 or 6 and “about my eighth-grade year, I fell in love with it,” he said. As a freshman, he played five games before being moved to the varsity team. Near the end of his sophomore season, he began to think he could reach 1,000 points.
 

He said he feels a lot of appreciation for his teammates and coach Wayne Stevens, who is a guidance counselor at Western Alamance.
 

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” Gregory said.
 

The U.S. Air Force has offered him an athletic scholarship, but he hasn’t made a decision yet. Gregory said he definitely wants to play at the college level, and a basketball scholarship will determine where he goes to school.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at 373-7088 or jamie.kennedy@news-record.com