Young historian
SHICKSHINNY — Everything about Jozshua Miner's historic season has been a family affair years in the making.
The Northwest junior has broken school records for 3-pointers in a game, season and career. And he still has one-plus seasons left to add to his impressive scoring records.
What started with lessons from his father Scott, a member of the Rangers' 1991 state championship squad, has now helped him not only shatter records but keep them in the family.
"He taught me how to shoot the 3-pointer at a young age," Miner said. "He knew if he could teach me the 3-pointer, he could teach me the game as I went along and break it down easier."
That exact growth has been noticeable from coach Sean Miller, who put the 1,000-point scorer in his starting lineup after making changes to his roster near the end of Miner's freshman year.
"He's gotten stronger physically and his ball handling and insight have grown significantly," Miller said. "He's always been a natural shooter, but his other aspects have grown. You see that when teams take away his 3-point shot — he can still beat you in so many ways and that's huge for us."
Thankfully for the Rangers, that hasn't been too much of a concern. In back-to-back games against North Penn-Mansfield and Millville, Miner sank a record nine treys, breaking Matt Corrall's record of eight. In that same game against the Quakers, he also broke his older sister Charleigh's record of 190 3-pointers. Then on Wednesday, he broke his own record for 3-pointers in a season (84 last year) by extending his total to 86.
Jozshua had an idea he was closing in on 1,000 points, doing so on Wednesday, but he had no clue about Charleigh's mark, saying with a laugh "she got mad at me" when he told her he broke it.
Not being in the know is by Miller's design. Anytime Miner was closing in on the single-game record, the coach kept asking for another one, and he felt it was putting more pressure on him. Now, the coach keeps that info tight-lipped so the player can focus on the task at hand: winning.
"He's been close to that 3-point record a few times and I made the mistake of saying, 'hey man, give me one more, give me two more,'" Miller said. "He pressed a little bit in those situations and so I tried keeping the 1,000 points from him because I didn't want him to think about the individual milestones while he was helping the team win."
He's not doing badly in that area either. The Rangers, who only sport one senior, hold the No. 1 seed in the District 4 Class 2A playoff bracket. Miller credits Miner's play but gives more to the chemistry established among the starting five — Miner, cousin Ryan Miner, Brady Shea, Jace McCoy and Tucker Crawford — for putting them in a great position for when playoffs start later this month.
Getting to this point has also been Miner's greatest achievement.
"I'm not set on a goal (for a total number of 3-pointers). I'm just trying to help the team win games," he said. "I'm not out there trying to make it about me. I want to capture that No. 1 seed."
Two peas in a pod, Miner and Miller. The records can keep falling because that means there are more games to be played, but neither care what the final stat line looks like regardless of how impressive it already looks — just as long as they make a deep playoff run.
"I already think he's going to be setting a record that will be tough to break, but I don't care how many more he hits as long we're playing in March, that's all I care about," Miller said. "I know that's all he cares about too."
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