They say records are meant to be broken, but it seemed like Swede Halbrook’s 1,035 points scored in the 1952 Oregon high school boys basketball for Lincoln was an insurmountable feat.
Not even Lake Oswego star Kevin Love could reach that mark in his stellar 2006-2007 season where he finished with 936 points.
Not even the state’s all-time leading scorer in Regis star Isaiah Koehnke put together a season with more than 1,000 points.
But when South Wasco County’s then-junior Jason Hull posted 914 points in the 2024-2025 season a year ago, that mark from Halbrook didn’t seem as big of a mountain as before.
Breaking the record was never on the mind for Hull or his dad/head coach Jim Hull, but after the scoring numbers Jason had posted throughout his high school career leading up to senior year, 1,035 became more and more of a possibility for Jason’s senior season.
And sure enough, Jason Hull dominated and helped the Redsides reach the 1A quarterfinals this year, their first time back in Baker City since 2022.
Entering the state tournament, Jason Hull was only 29 points away from the record. Unfortunately, Open Door Christian put an end to the Redsides title hopes in the quarterfinals with a 65-60 victory where Jason Hull had 15 points.
But with the season not over in the consolation semifinals, Jason Hull bounced back to score 36 and officially break the single-season scoring record in a South Wasco County 65-58 win over No. 23 Prairie City/Burnt River on Thursday at Baker High School.
“It feels good because I missed half of my freshman year and sophomore year,” Jason Hull said of breaking the record. “I’m really taking these things in because you didn’t always know if you were going to have them again. All that hard work has paid off for something, so it feels good and glad to be able to do it with this team.”
Jason Hull started his career with a bang, setting the record for most points scored in a game by a freshman when he had 54-point performance.
A dislocated kneecap ended his freshman season early and the same injury in September 2023 kept him out all of his sophomore season.
But Jason came back even stronger with 914 points as a junior, setting up his senior year to not only go after the scoring record, but get South Wasco County back in title contention.
“When he got his 914 last year it was like, ‘You know Jason, if we make a normal state run, you could have a chance at this just doing what you do,’” Jim Hull said.
Dad was right as Jason’s 51 points in two games in Baker City has pushed up to 1,057 on the season with one final game to go.
The Redsides needed every bit of those 36 on Thursday as Prairie City pushed them to the brink playing a similar defense to the one Open Door threw at them the night before.
However, teammates in senior Rowen Huff and freshman Ryker Thompson were able to hit shots early and forced the Panthers into more of a 2-3 zone where Jason went to work going 13-for-29 from the field with three made 3-pointers.
“As a team we wanted to bounce back,” Jason Hull said. “When we face adversity, we just gotta bounce back the best we can. We were really motivated today and I’m glad we were able to take care of business.”
“That was an awesome feeling No. 1 to get the win,” Jim Hull said. “No. 2, get the win while breaking the record, that’s the cherry on top.”
So how did someone living in the shadow of Mt. Hood out in Maupin become such a prolific scorer like Jason Hull?
It wasn’t anything having to do with a natural talent, but rather dedication and sacrifice to become one of the state’s all-time best scorers.
“Knowing I was never going to be the most athletic or anything, but the one thing I can control is my ability to shoot,” Jason Hull said. “Put in a ton of time shooting, shooting 100 threes, 100 free throws all the time. Focusing on making a certain amount and knowing that’s going to translate to a game is something I’ve kind of done a lot of during my time playing basketball.”
Jason will lace them up for the Redsides one last time at 8 a.m. Saturday, March 7 in the 1A fourth/sixth place game against No. 9 Crosspoint Christian.
For the first time all season, it won’t matter how many points he scores as the single-season record is already his and will feature the Hull and South Wasco County name presumably for years to come.
“I just try to enjoy every moment,” Jason Hull said. “It’s super cool to be able to do something like that, play for my dad and be successful like we have been. All the hard work has paid off to do that, it’s pretty awesome.”
Records are made to be broken though, and dad is happy to know that his son has not only set a new bar, but inspired those coming up next to have something to chase.
“Records, we make them to be broken,” Jim Hull said. “I always tell kids that when you set it, all you’re doing is setting a goal for someone else. You should be pretty happy with that because you’ve probably inspired someone else to do that, and that’s how we feel about this.”
austinw@osaa.org
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