Melendez nears school records

Published 10:45 pm Thursday, January 23, 2014

The Apprentice School sophomore guard/forward Jay Melendez is poised to claim two school records from behind the three-point line. (John Whalen/NNS)

The Apprentice School sophomore guard/forward Jay Melendez is poised to claim two school records from behind the three-point line. (John Whalen/NNS)

Former Nansemond River High School basketball player Jay Melendez is honing in on some school records as a sophomore at the Apprentice School.

In Sunday’s 75-58 home win over visiting Barber-Scotia College, he scored a career-high 33 points, including a trio of three-pointers. He now has a tally of 54 three-pointers made this season in 19 games. It is two away from tying the school record set by Charles Holiday in 23 games played during the 2005-06 campaign.

Melendez has six more games to work with this season.

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He is also on pace for having the best three-point shooting percentage in school history at 41.5. The current record is 40.4 percent, established by Andre Council in the 1995-96 season.

He also has displayed unprecedented accuracy from the free throw line. Charles Holiday holds the season school record from the foul line with 85.3 percent shooting in 2004-05, but Melendez is on pace for 87 percent.

He has been scoring at a blistering rate lately as Sunday’s performance marked his third 30-point game in the last five contests. He is currently averaging a team-leading 21.2 points to go with 9.8 rebounds. He also leads the team with 31 blocks and is second with 30 steals.

The Builders are 12-7 overall and 7-3 in their conference. They play at Washington Adventist University on Saturday with a 6 p.m. tip-off.