GILROY — Whenever Chris Chang gets the ball, the crowd at Gilroy High holds its breath. If he gets an open look, you can almost always count on him going for three — and most of the time he makes it.
On the night of Feb. 7, however, there was no silencing the Mustang fans. With every 3-pointer Chang made the crowd grew louder. And when they announced he was close to breaking the tying record set by Dallas Jensen in 1999, the crowd went berserk.
But Chang wasn’t done.
It took him most of the fourth quarter but with a minute and 30 seconds left, he hit his 10th 3-point basket of the game forever etching his name into the Gilroy High record books.
“The whole crowd was just rooting for me and that’s never really happened,” the 5-5 senior said. “The whole gym was just pulling for me to just make the last one in. I didn’t want to disappoint them.”
The icing on the cake was that Chang’s family and friends were all in attendance for the Mustangs’ homecoming celebrations.
“It’s just good to see the support for him personally,” Mustangs coach Abrem Estorga said. “Basketball is such a team sport, you really don’t highlight the individual too much — especially at our level. To have the crowd recognize what he just did and lift him up, that was special.”
Chang had the opportunity to meet Jensen, the former Mustangs’ player whose record he broke, on Tuesday evening. Jensen, the son of former Gilroy and now Oakwood basketball coach Kort Jensen, is currently an assistant coach with San Jose City College.
“Obviously what he did was incredible. I’m very happy for him and his family,” Dallas said. “Records are meant to be broken. When I got the call from coach Estorga that it had happened, I was just excited and happy for Chris.”
Chang is the definition of a team player, doing what he can to help his fellow Mustangs while taking a backseat when it comes to the spotlight. Estorga said on this night, when it was Chang’s chance to shine, his teammates didn’t skip a beat to help him achieve the record — and it’s not something he takes for granted.
“It’s pretty special to me. I’ll definitely remember it (the game) for my whole life,” Chang said. “I just want to thank my teammates because they’re the ones that passed me the ball. They passed up a lot of shots that they could’ve taken to pass me the ball.”
While he’s been playing ball since he was 6-years-old, he can’t quite recall how he learned to shoot 3s like he does. Chang said he looks up to his dad and his uncle — both of which played the game — as well as Golden State’s Stephen Curry, who set his own 3-point record — most in a season — for the Warriors last year.
“We go to a lot of games a year. (I study) his shooting, definitely,” Chang said with a smile.
Chang is the Mustangs leading scorer and leads in 3-point shots for the season as well — despite playing seven less games than the rest of his teammates. While that might be enough to convince college coaches to take a look at the senior, Chang said he doesn’t think college ball is in his future. No matter what happens, he wants to be involved in the game one way or another for the rest of his life.
Gilroy has had a rollercoaster of a season, currently sitting at 10-12 overall and 5-5 in league play. The Mustangs need to win out to make the playoffs, and kept those hopes alive with a 68-46 win over North Salinas Wednesday.
Gilroy will close out the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at North Monterey County and will undoubtly be relying on Chang to help boost its offense into the postseason.
“He knows once he’s got the space he’s got the green light — a bright green light,” Estorga said.
He knows once he’s got the space he’s got the green light — a bright green light.”
Most in a game: Chris Chang, 10, 2014; Dallas Jensen, 9, 1999; Chris Christensen, 8, 1992
Most in a season: Chris Christensen, 81, 1992; Dallas Jensen, 80, 1999.
