“Whitfield has 19 (3 or 4 dunks) at halftime,” he punched into his cellphone from the Fredonia High School gym Thursday night.

Less than an hour later, Spielman texted simply: “48.”

Yep, it was quite a night for Hillbillies’ senior Nick Whitfield, who came two points shy of reaching the 50-point mark as he led his team to an 87-52 victory over crosstown rival Dunkirk in a Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 West basketball game before a packed house.

Upon closer inspection, however, the 6-foot-5 forward’s performance was nearly perfect.

Jamestown’s Maceo Wofford. P-J file photo

According to statistics posted to the Section VI boys basketball website, Whitfield shot 18 of 20 from the floor and 12 of 14 from the foul line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked three shots, and added two assists and two steals.

“This is something that he’ll never forget,” Fredonia coach Nick Bertrando told Spielman postgame. ” … For him to end his career at home against Dunkirk like this, it’s pretty special. It’s something he won’t forget for a long time, and I won’t either.”

That got me thinking.

There have been plenty of unforgettable performances among Chautauqua County basketball players through the years — Zach Winters’ of Frewsburg was another recent example this season when he erupted for 49 points and grabbed 17 rebounds Dec. 16 in a CCAA Central Division home win against Gowanda — so I went back through the archives and came up with four others that immediately came to mind. There are, no doubt, other efforts that could be included on this list, but the four below — listed in chronological order — are my most memorable.

PAUL BRETZ

Jamestown’s Justin Johnson. P-J file photo

RIPLEY

FEB. 1, 1991

In a CCAA Division 3 matchup against Mayville, the 6-foot-2 Bretz exploded for 56 points to lead Ripley to an 87-75 win at Mayville Central School.

“We did a box-and-one and some zones,” Mayville coach Todd Crandall said. “We tried a bit of everything.”

But nothing seemed to work.

Bretz scored 8 points in the first quarter, 17 in the second, 13 in the third and 18 in the fourth.

For the game, he shot 18 of 26 from the floor and 18 of 22 from the foul line.

“Whenever they needed one, they went to (Bretz),” Crandall said.

The 56-point explosion was a county record until December 1993 when another Fredonia teenager went off.

MICHAEL HEARY

FREDONIA

Dec. 8, 1993

On an early season trip to Buffalo, Heary poured in 62 points before fouling out with 55 seconds remaining in a 110-106 overtime loss to Traditional in a nonleague game.

“I’ve never seen anyone do that,” Bulls coach Joe Cardinal said. “I’ve seen kids get 70 points, but never quality points. We had people hanging on him all night.”

The 6-foot-5 Heary scored 13 points in the first quarter, 12 in the second, 12 in the third, 23 in the fourth and 2 in overtime before fouling out. For the game, he shot 21 of 34 from the floor and 15 of 19 from the foul line.

“I’ve never seen an offensive performance like that from anybody in my days of coaching high school basketball,” Hillbillies coach Dave Polechetti said.

The fans appreciated Heary’s performance so much, in fact, that couldn’t wait to greet the senior guard immediately after the final buzzer.

“The opposing fans came rushing over to him before they went over to their own home team,” Polechetti said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”

JUSTIN JOHNSON

JAMESTOWN

FEB. 19, 1994

The 6-foot-8 Johnson scored a then-school record 51 points — breaking his old mark by a point — to spark Jamestown to an 89-77 nonleague victory over Fredonia before an estimated crowd of 2,300 at McElrath Gymnasium.

Johnson, who scored 49 points at Fredonia two months earlier, connected on 19 of 26 shots from the field and all 11 of his free throws, while grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out five assists.

“All his accomplishments are just phenomenal, just like the ballgame tonight,” Red Raiders coach Ron Frederes said. “There’s not enough adjectives to describe him. He did it again tonight.”

Heary, who led the Hillbillies with 33 points, paid homage to Johnson, his rival and friend.

“He’s just a terrific inside player,” Heary said. “He makes the catch on the lob pass. … He’s getting hung on and everything, and then he turns around with a soft touch. He just killed us in two games.”

Responded Johnson: “I have a size advantage against this team and my teammates do a nice job of getting me the ball. They made it easy.”

On that night, I begged to differ.

Justin made it look easy.

MACEO WOFFORD

JAMESTOWN

FEB. 12, 1999

Wofford saved his best for last.

Playing in his final regular-season home game, the senior point guard poured in a school-record 53 points to lift the Red Raiders to an 88-62 victory over Hamburg in an Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 1 game before a standing-room-only crowd at McElrath Gymnasium.

Wofford connected on 19 of 31 field goal attempts and 14 of 18 free throws to go along with 14 rebounds, eight steals and six assists.

“He earned every one of them,” Jamestown coach Ben Drake said. “He had no easy points. He got some easy baskets, but he had to get his way in there. He just seemed to find a way. It didn’t matter what defense. When he wants to, he’s able to turn it up a notch. He just played at a different level than the other nine guys on the floor tonight.”

Wofford’s career game broke Johnson’s previous school record set five years before.

“It feels great because I worked hard to get where I am,” he said. “My family is proud of me and my teammates are proud of me. It fees great to be known as one of the elite athletes in Western New York.”

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