Valley Basketball Player Breaks Most-Points-Per-Game Record

Forward Joey Liedel scores 51 points Monday night, shattering 44-year-old feat

Joey Liedel

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Basketball history was made at Kalamazoo Valley Community College Monday night when its 44-year-old record for the most points scored by a player in a single game was broken.

Freshman guard Joey Liedel, No. 1, scored 51 points in a non-Conference home game Dec. 4 against Albion College, JV team. Valley won the game, 113-85. Liedel, a 6-foot University of Detroit transfer student, is a 2020 graduate of Mason Senior High School in Erie, Michigan.

Athletic Director Russ Panico said Liedel's performance broke former student Mark Roberts' record of 49 points achieved at a Dec. 14, 1979 game. Roberts is a Portage Northern High School grad. His scoring milestone at Kalamazoo Valley happened during the first year of now retired Dick Shilts' tenure as the college's men's head basketball coach and athletic director.

"I'm so proud of Joey's achievement," Russ Panico said. "He has been a fantastic addition to our men's basketball program for the 2023-24 season. He adds so much to the positive chemistry between all team members - a true leader on and off the court."

Jim Horn, Valley's current men's basketball coach, recalled that Liedel got off to a great start at Monday's game by hitting five of nine 3-pointers in the first half and entering halftime with 21 points.

"He continued being hot in the second half of the game and finished 12 for 19 from 3-point land,18 for 28 from the field, and three for three from the line," Horn said.

Conference play officially begins for the men's basketball team on Jan. 13, but eager fans can see the players in action locally now. Watch them at home games this month at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8; and 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16. All home games take place in the main gym at Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Texas Township Campus. Admission is free.

Find the full season schedule at athletics.kvcc.edu.