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By Daniel Rodrigues
For the last four seasons Damian Buckley has stepped onto the court with the Stingers logo on his chest and the love of basketball in his heart. But each time the Concordia Stingers men’s team takes to the floor in the upcoming weeks, every basket Buckley makes will inch him ever closer to the 1 000-point mark for his regular season career.
“To be honest I didn’t even know I was close,” said Buckley. “To reach a
1 000 would be a tribute to playing here and to my coaches and teammates.”
Buckley, a 24-year-old guard and Montreal native, currently sits at 901 regular season points accumulated over his four season with the Stingers.
Reaching the 1 000-mark would only help to bolster a list of accomplishments that already includes being named Concordia male athlete of the year and all-Canadian top 10 in 2007-08, as well as three-time Quebec Student Sports Federation first team all-star from 2005-06 to 2007-08.
This season, in his team’s first six games, Buckley has registered 130 points, averaging 21.67 points per game. Now he sits just 99 points shy of joining the exclusive 1 000-point club. Seeing as how he only needs to average 10 points in each of this season's remaining 10 games to reach the milestone, the big question is not if, but rather when.
“The biggest thing is winning,” assured Buckley, who maintains the points record will not be on his mind.
Currently, the Stingers have a 4-2 record and are in a three-way tie for first place in the Quebec league. But he and his teammates aren't keeping their aspirations regional. The team feels being number one in the country isn't out of reach, nor is striving to be crowned nationwide kings.
“The goal is a national championship,” said Buckley. “In my second year, we won the Quebec championship and going to nationals we were ranked number one. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned that year.”
Although Buckley in his fourth year and still has the opportunity to play one more season, it is another Buckley, his brother Dwayne, who is playing out his final season with one last chance at national gold.
“I’ve never played without him,” said Damian. “We are hard on each other and expect a lot, but we know how to leave our feelings on the court.”
Along with playing beside his brother, Damian’s journey landed him a spot amongst the top 22 players in Canada’s national program last summer. Falling just short of making Team Canada for Olympic qualifications, he earned his way onto the national development squad and played in two international contests against Italy.
In the meantime, the men's Stingers will set their sights on their crosstown rivals the McGill Redmen on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Concordia gym.