By The Leader Staff
Ronnie Roche, No. 32, celebrates his 1,000th point with teammates Thursday night at Kings Christian High School. Roche is only a junior.
Ronnie Roche, No. 32, celebrates his 1,000th point with teammates Thursday night at Kings Christian High School. Roche is only a junior.
Photo Contributed

Kings Christian standout basketball player Ronnie Roche, a KC junior athlete, scored his 1,000th point Thursday night against Clovis Christian. Needing just 13 points to reach the magic 1,000, he finished the night with 32 points.

Number 1,000 came from a play drawn up by KC Crusaders coach Kevin Dalafu. Roche’s younger brother, freshman Kevin Roche, assisted him in hitting a three-pointer from the same spot he scored his first three-pointer during his freshman year. 

According to MaxPreps, Rocha is scoring at a 20.7 clip as his team is 4-5 in the early season.

The Crusaders easily got past visiting Clovis Christian. The Crusaders will host Summit Charter Collegiate Academy tonight (Dec. 9) in a 7 p.m. game.

As a sophomore, Roche earned the East Sierra League’s most valuable player averaging 24.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He helped lead last year’s Crusader team to a 15-13 record and second place in the league (7-3).

"Coaching Ronnie has been a wonderful experience, seeing him grow from a boy to a young man of God. It has been an absolute joy watching him score his first varsity points on a corner three and to see him drop his 1,000th point on a corner three,” said Crusader Coach Kevin Dalafu. “Ronnie's discipline, dedication, and hard work are contagious, and that’s what separates him from his peers. I look forward to seeing Ronnie score 1000 more points over the next two years," he added.

"Ronnie has been one of our hardest working athletes ever to call himself a Crusader,” said the school’s athletic director, Todd Martin.  “He is committed to excellence and works on his craft every day. Ronnie embodies the term "student-athlete" as he is not only a great athlete, but he is also a fantastic student with over a 4.0 GPA. And most of all, he is a young man of God.”