High school high-scorer Evan Hurley

MILLBROOK — Before the game with Stissing Mountain High School, Millbrook high-scorer Evan Hurley talked about growing up with the sport.

Tall and soft-spoken with a shy smile, Evan remembered that he started playing basketball as a toddler dribbling a volleyball and shooting at the stone arch inside his family’s home. His mother, Millbrook Mayor Laura Hurley, never told him he couldn’t throw balls inside the house. As he grew up he played five-on-five with the neighborhood children and on the village youth teams on Saturdays.

Evan showed early talent and by eighth grade he gave up playing football to focus completely on basketball. In spring and summer he played with the Edge Athletic traveling team that he credits with improving his skills and introducing him to the best players in the Hudson Valley.  By 10th grade he moved up to the Blazer’s varsity basketball team and the grueling schedule of working out two or three times a week in the gym before the season starts, and then one-and-a-half hours of practice six days a week and two hours on holidays during the season.

After the defeat of the Pine Plains Bombers (full story and photos on this page), the Blazers have a 5-2 record. Evan hopes the team will qualify in Division 9 and advance to sectionals. He said he feels that rebounding and pushing the ball at fast breaks are the Blazers’ strengths this year and that bench depth could be improved. His advice to young athletes is “just practice.� Evan said he believes he’s learned a lot from playing basketball.

“Leadership, working with others, and, importantly, that life, like referees, is not always fair,� Evan said.

Right now Millbrook basketball coach Adam Peek is helping Evan find the right Division III college, coach and team. He would like to go to study and play basketball in a city, and is considering Johnson and Wales in Providence, R.I., Sage College in Albany and LaSalle in Boston, Mass. He intends to major in computer science even though English is his favorite subject in high school. When he’s not playing basketball, Evan likes to spend his time with friends, listen to music and check out Facebook. Not surprisingly, his favorite magazine is Slam.

If Evan can continue scoring 20 to 25 points per game and placing shots like the buzzer beater that made the critical point difference in overcoming Rhinebeck, the Blazers may be headed for another state championship.

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