A quiet court.

The sun peaking through the gym windows.

A squeaky ball rack by his side.

And his father underneath the hoop rebounding jump shots for him.

That’s what Cole Dietz calls his home away from home, and it’s a big reason why Dietz — a senior shooting guard for Lehighton — recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark.

Dietz scored 31 points in a 62-54 win over Northern Lehigh in the Hamburg Tip-Off Tournament championship game to reach the 1,000-point plateau, and also came home with the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

The shooting prowess for Dietz started at an early age when he was just four years old. Young Cole would shoot shots for fun with his father J.C. Dietz, and even joined in on shooting drills with the Tamaqua varsity players at their practices where J.C. served as an assistant coach at the time.

The shooting accolades came early for Dietz, as he was a consistent champion of the Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw contest at the local, state and regional level in his youth. Dietz even went on to compete at the national level when he was 10 years old, and finished fourth in the country in his age bracket.

“Ever since I was born, I remember my dad being around the game of basketball. And I was always in the gym with him. We were always shooting around, and he was always working with me and rebounding for me,” said Dietz. “We have built a lot of good memories together doing that.

“My dad has always pushed me to get better, and both my parents, my mom and my dad have always believed in me. I just want to thank all of my family for everything that they have done for me on and off the court.”

Dietz has been making his mark for the Indians since his freshman season, and his hard work in the gym has paid dividends, as he’s improved each and every year for the Tribe. As a freshman, he averaged 11.05 points per game; upped that to 14.78 as a sophomore; and put together an exceptional junior season, averaging 16.24 points per contest.

Dietz’s three-point shooting numbers have increased season by season as well. Dietz hit 54 three-pointers as a frosh, 70 as a sophomore and 82 last season. He surpassed the Indians career three-point record (163) last season. and is now over the 200-mark with almost the entirety of his senior season left to play.

Dietz’s focus on foul shooting during his youth has also paid off. He’s a 76 percent career free throw shooter through three seasons with 196 career free throws attempted.

“If anyone deserves to achieve 1,000 career points, it’s Cole. He is the hardest worker I have ever coached, and he has committed an incredible amount of time and energy into improving his overall game over the past four years,” said Lehighton head coach Trevor Miller. “

Obviously, his scoring abilities have been outstanding, but what impresses me most about his game is his passing. He prefers getting his teammates involved over his own scoring. He’s also the first player to congratulate his teammates when they score. As great of a player as Cole is; he’s a better person and teammate.”

The most important statistic in Dietz’s tenure, so far, has been that the program has made it to the playoffs the past two seasons.

The Tribe, which were a very young team in Dietz’s freshman year missed the postseason, but over the past two campaigns, the Indians have gone a combined 31-18 with two trips to the District 11 playoffs.

Last season, Lehighton went 17-9 and qualified for the Colonial League playoffs in its first season in the league, which also resulted in a District 11 postseason victory.

“We’ve really improved as a team over the last two years. That’s a testament to my teammates and my coaches. Everyone has worked hard,” said Dietz. “I want to thank all of our coaches for what they have done for us, especially our head coach, Coach Miller. He has always believed in me and supported me, and he brings a ton of energy to our team and we feed off that energy.”

With the 1,000 point milestone behind him, the mission for Dietz and the Tribe still remains the same moving forward — win games and make it back to the postseason.

“Scoring 1,000 points is something that I wanted to accomplish ever since I started playing, seeing other players do it throughout the years. But once I get on the court, I don’t think about any of that. I think about what we have to do in order to win the game,” said Dietz.

“It’s an amazing feeling to have done it, don’t get me wrong. And I want to thank my teammates for all that they have done to help me accomplish it, but the main goal is always to get the win.”