Kris Joyce Joins Stoughton High’s 1000-Point Club

Needing 13 points to reach 1,000 for his career, Kris Joyce took the most efficient route towards the milestone—the three-pointer.

The senior captain for the Stoughton High boys’ basketball team sank five of them, all in the first half of Saturday afternoon’s , ending the day with 1,002 career points. Joyce became just the 12th player in school history—boy or girl—to reach this plateau.

“It was great, all the hard work paid off,” Joyce said.

“I couldn’t be happier for him,” head coach John Gallivan added. “When that last shot went in to break the thousand mark, I was as happy as anyone in the gym and I knew there were a lot of happy people.”

Joyce hit his first three-pointer in the first quarter, in front of the Foxborough bench. He said he was “feeling it” against the Warriors.

So he “just kept shooting.” And the shots just kept falling.

Joyce went on to hit three more shots from that same spot on the court in the second quarter to bring his career total to 999. Joyce said he was aware of how close he was to the milestone, but didn’t let it get to his head.

“When I’m not playing, I think about it,” he said. “But when I’m on the court, I just play.”

The senior guard squared up for a fifth three-pointer from in front of the Foxborough bench, but this one rimmed out.  Joyce didn’t have to wait long for another chance at 1,000, however. Just a minute later, the ball was back in his hands.

Joyce, this time positioned in front of the stands, received a pass from sophomore Aaron Calixte, and buried up a high arching shot with 1:16 left in the half to put Stoughton up 44-22.

“It happened to come to my side, [I] had an open look, and shot it,” Joyce said of his 1,000-point play.

The Stoughton cheering section erupted after the shot. Both teams paused to commemorate the moment, with Joyce receiving the game ball, flowers and embraces from his teammates and coaches. His family then joined him on court.

The weather actually played a hand in assuring Joyce would reach the milestone at home. This home game against Foxborough was originally scheduled for last Tuesday. If the game had taken place when it was originally scheduled, Joyce would have most likely reached the mark on the road, this past Friday night at Franklin.

Joyce is a four-year starter, two-year captain and two-year league All-Star for the Black Knights. This season he has scored 214 points, averaging 15.3 points per game.

A key contributor since his freshman year, Gallivan said Joyce could have played on the varsity squad even before he was in high school.

“When he was an eighth grader, and he moved here, we watched him play in travel basketball and he was ready then,” Gallivan said. “We just couldn’t use him because he was in a separate school. We waited for him, and we were really happy with what we got and it was worth the wait.”

Joyce said he knew that one day he would find himself on the list of 1,000-point scorers. His key to continued success? “Just keep working.”

“Kris has been here for a long time. He’s a great leader. He always oversees me and he always tells me what to do and helps me out on everything I do,” Calixte said.

“Kris is a funny kid. I love playing with Kris. He’s a great player, he’s a great kid, and he just works hard,” sophomore Marcus Middleton added.

Gallivan calls Joyce a “quiet leader,” a player who has grown in his four years at SHS.

“His responsibilities have changed, he’s a much stronger kid, he’s a better athlete, which is hard to believe, than he was when he came here,” Gallivan said.

“He played a couple years at point, and now he’s off the ball. He’s more of a scoring threat, more of a slasher now, which is great for him down the road because that opens up all sorts of possibilities in the world of college basketball.”

Ryan Lanigan contributed reporting. Check out a video montage of Joyce’s highlights, the 1,000 point shot and ceremony and postgame interviews in the media gallery above.

Stoughton High School's 1,000 Point Scorers