Palmerton senior Justin Hosier is aware of the opportunity his head coach Ken Termini provided him. The chance to play as a ninth grader is afforded to only a small number of boys basketball players.

A combination of outstanding talent, hard work, and good timing are all needed to see the court that early in a player’s career.

Hosier took advantage of that opportunity and has rarely come off the court during the last four seasons.

During a recent Palmerton game, Hosier took a feed off an in-bounds play on the low block, spun right, and despite contact from a defender, made a layup. It’s a move and a shot that Hosier has executed innumerable times throughout his career.

However there was a number assigned to this conversion that made it a little more special than most – this time the basket produced the 1,000th point of Hosier’s career.

The bucket came on Dec. 23 in a Colonial League matchup against Saucon Valley, and played a role in an important Bomber victory.

The early Christmas present was appreciated by Hosier.

“It felt great to be able to accomplish it,” Hosier said about reaching the milestone. “It’s nice to know that all the hard work that I did to try and become a great basketball player is paying off. It’s a nice goal to achieve because it’s something that will always be there.”

Hosier was referring to the exclusive 1,000-point banner that hangs in the Palmerton High School gymnasium, He will become just the 11th boys basketball player in school history to have his name added to the banner.

“It’s really nice to be in that category,” he said. “To be up there with all the great players that are on that banner is awesome.”

Termini, who has been able to see Hosier’s game develop and grow during his years with the Bombers, was thrilled to see him reach the scoring milestone.

“It was great to see Justin break the 1,000-point barrier and set the boys’ program record for most made threes,” he said. “He’s a four-year starter that has worked hard and made himself into one of the school’s all-time greats.”

At the beginning of his senior season, the inside/outside threat had 902 career points and the countdown to 1,000 began. As the milestone approached — he needed six more points heading into the Saucon Valley game to eclipse the standard — no one wanted it to happen more than Hosier.

“At that point, I was just thinking, ‘Let’s just get it over with so I don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Hosier said.

Just over a minute into the second period, the inside move produced those points and sent the home Blue Bomber crowd into an uproar.

Looking back to his time as an underclassman, Hosier knew seeing the court so early in his career made the goal possible. but that it wouldn’t be easy.

“I knew it was a possibility, but I still knew I had a lot of work to do in order to achieve it,” he said.

Aside from his hard work, Hosier knows it wasn’t done alone.

“I want to thank my coach for not only giving me the chance to play as a freshman, but to start – that opportunity was huge in making this accomplishment a reality,” Hosier said. “Also, I want to thank my teammates over the years, because there’s no way I would’ve been able to do it without all of them.

“Finally, I want to thank my mom (Steph), my dad (Dean), my grandparents, and everyone else who supported me over the years.”