Glenn's Josh Fenner sets school scoring record

The high-pressure moment never seems to faze Glenn’s Josh Fenner -- dating back to his freshman season.

Two years ago, Fenner scored 22 points -- including six 3-pointers -- in a 71-66 victory at Southampton, the eventual Long Island Class A champion, in his freshman season. He followed that last winter with a 53-point outburst in a 92-89 triple-overtime victory over East Hampton in a Suffolk A outbracket game.

“Southampton’s a tough place to play and they had an excellent team,” coach Charly Rogener said. “They became the Long Island champs that year and a freshman coming in a big spot in a loud, tough away environment is not something you get as a coach a lot; and Josh stepped up to the plate and he’s been doing it ever since.”

Now in his junior season, Fenner went from being the program’s youngest 1,000-point scorer to its all-time leading scorer in less than a week after posting 21 points in a 77-50 victory over host Port Jefferson Tuesday. Fenner surpassed Trevor Coston’s mark of 1,061 with a transition layup with 6:36 left in the third quarter and finished the game at 1,068 varsity points.

“Coming into my freshman year, I never knew I’d score 53 in a game,” Fenner said. “And I never knew I’d score 1,000 points. Once you get really close, it’s really special and I embraced it.”

But Fenner said he never wanted to chase a number or a record. He just focused on making improvements in his game.

“I try to not let it get to me very much,” Fenner said. “Just play every day and get better and better and use that as motivation to do something else.”

Rogener credited Fenner’s abilities to score in a multitude of different ways, which forces a defense to make difficult decisions about how to guard the dynamic scorer.

"He's got every aspect of the game going for him,” Rogener said. “He can hit three, he has a great pull-up jumper and he's excellent in transition. … It’s pick your poison when you’re playing defense on him.”

Fenner is averaging 20.5 points per game on varsity in 52 games over three seasons and 23.8 points per game this year, leading Glenn to a 10-2 start, including 3-1 in Suffolk VI through Tuesday.

And with the encouragement of his coaches, Fenner has played more aggressively on the offensive end.

“I feel unstoppable,” said Fenner, who has three games of at least 30 points this season. “No one can guard me at any time and I can go by anyone on the court.”

And that confidence has been key to not only the 5-10 guard’s success, but for the entire team.

“If I don’t have that confidence, maybe my teammates won’t have the confidence,” Fenner said. “So I just try to push myself as hard as possible and do what’s best for the team.”