Who are the leading scorers in Thurston County's basketball history? Hint: 2 played in 2018

Thurston County has produced plenty of high school basketball players who could light up a scoreboard.

During the past several weeks of playoffs and March Madness, The Olympian has researched to identify who the most prolific scorers in county history are, and has revisited names that have appeared in this newspaper for decades.

Below is a chart of the all-time leading scorers for boys and girls basketball at each of the 13 high schools in Thurston County, based on available information.

Two of the players listed — Timberline’s Erik Stevenson and North Thurston’s Clay Christian — penciled their names into history during the 2017-18 season.

Stevenson, who is slated to play Division I basketball at Wichita State next season, is now the all-time leading scorer for boys in Thurston County history after wrapping up his career with 1,861 points.

The three-star shooting guard from Lacey is the No. 4 prospect in Washington in the 2018 recruiting class, and is widely agreed to be one of the best high school basketball players Thurston County has ever seen.

During Timberline’s Class 3A state-tournament run this season, Stevenson eclipsed the previous county scoring record set by Capital’s Ryan Jones (1,821 points) more than two decades ago.

Stevenson, who is The Olympian’s All-Area player of the year, scored an impressive 717 points his senior season — including 118 in four games in the Tacoma Dome in March — to chase down and pass Jones.

Behind his 24.7 points per game — which led the greater Olympia area, and was the second-best scoring average in the South Sound — the Blazers (22-7) earned fourth place in state for their best finish since 1981.

Stevenson was named the tournament MVP after breaking six modern records, including the record for total points previously set by projected NBA lottery pick Michael Porter Jr.

His dominant final season notched Stevenson a handful of honors from around the state. The Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association invited him to play in their senior All-Star game in March — during which he dunked over Richland’s Riley Sorn, who is 7-foot-4.

The video of that dunk has accrued more than 1 million views across social media platforms.

Stevenson is also on the roster for the 2018 Northwest Shootout, which matches up the best seniors from Washington and Oregon for an All-Star showdown, and will be played just outside of Portland on April 14.

He leaves Timberline with a lifetime average of 17.6 points per game. He never missed a high school game, making 106 consecutive apperances, and helped the Blazers to a 74-32 record and four state-playoff appearances during his career.

He passed former Timberline scoring phenom Greg Champlin, who went on to play college basketball at Denver, in a rivalry game against North Thurston in December. Champlin (1,263 career points) set the Blazers’ record in 1973.

Stevenson also holds scoring records at Timberline for a single game (45 points) and season (717).

He is projected to play as a true freshman for the Wichita State Shockers next season.

Christian put together incredible back-to-back scoring seasons as a junior and senior to break North Thurston’s career scoring record with 1,495 points.

A two-time Olympian All-Area selection, he scored 1,095 of those points during his final two seasons.

Christian scored in double digits in 48 of his final 50 games in high school, scoring 20 or more points in 32 of those appearances, and 30 or more points 11 times.

He was one of two players in the greater Olympia area to pass 600 points his junior season, and added another 493 as a senior to help the Rams (21-4) reach the 3A state playoffs for the first time since 2012.

With Christian, North Thurston also won the 3A South Sound Conference title, and opened the regular season with a 19-0 record.

Christian averaged 24.1 points per game as a junior and 19.7 as a senior, and broke North Thurston’s all-time record with a 20-point performance in a win over Central Kitsap in January.

He made 94 apperances in high school, finishing with a lifetime scoring average of 15.9 points per game.

This story was originally published April 3, 2018 at 8:18 AM with the headline "Who are the leading scorers in Thurston County's basketball history? Hint: 2 played in 2018."