High school boys basketball: Woodstock North's Josh Jandron closing in on milestone

WOODSTOCK – One thing any team playing the Woodstock North boys basketball team this season knew was that in order to have success, it would need to focus on stopping Josh Jandron.

This is something much easier said than done.

Through the team’s first 11 games, Jandron is averaging 23.8 points a game and has already become the school’s all-time leading scorer. After scoring 72 points in four games at the Marengo EC Nichols Holiday Tournament, the senior guard is just 182 points away from reaching 1,000 career points.

“It’s definitely not something I thought was possible,” Jandron said. “Heading into this year, I just wanted to have a successful season and just let everything play out. If I got close, then awesome.”

Jandron is in his third year on varsity and said he takes after what his cousins have done at their respective schools in the scoring columns. His cousins live in Michigan and have all eclipsed the 1,000-point mark, something Jandron said feels like is starting to become a family tradition.

With just three wins through their first 11 games this year, the Thunder have no doubt had their share of struggles. Teams have started game planning and running defenses solely to attempt to shut down the crafty guard.

As nice as the scoring milestone would be for Jandron, he has always had one mentality when playing basketball. He wants to win.

“I would much rather score five points and have our team get the win,” Jandron said. “I would trade all of these points for winning seasons any day. I love to win and I think the winning feeling is better than anything in sports.”

“The maturity level is unbelievable,” coach Steve Ryan said of Jandron. “He has handled this year’s adversity very well. He’s a very competitive player and will do whatever it takes to get his team a win.”

After spending long nights shooting and running drills in the Alden-Hebron gym with his father, and playing his AAU basketball with Elite Academy in Lake Barrington in the offseason, Jandron is starting to see that hard work pay off.

Jandron aspires to play basketball at the next level, something Ryan believes is a strong possiblity for the 5-foot-9 guard. Jandron has been contacted by a couple schools, but no visits or offers have been made.

Not only has Jandron put up high scoring numbers, but he has done so shooting well from everywhere on the court. He has shot about 50 percent from the field, just under 80 percent from the free-throw line and well over 50 percent from 3-point range, totaling 44 3-pointers so far this year.

“He is an extremely efficient player,” Ryan said. “He has learned to take good shots, to finish strong at the basket and how to get his teammates involved. To be the first player at this school to be within reach of [1,000 points] is something special and I hope he’s in our gym when he does it.”

“I try not to think about it too much,” Jandron said. “The only time I think about it is after games when I’m home and my dad reminds me about it. It’s definitely a cool thing to be close to, but I try to just play my game and try to help get wins for our team.”

On his current pace, Jandron should be within reach of the mark at the beginning of February. The Thunder will play at in-town rival Woodstock (Feb. 3), followed by a home game against Genoa-Kingston on Feb. 5.