Nick Khatchikian from Mesrobian of Pico Rivera holds paper with 102 on it standing next to his twin brother, Dylan, on the left as well as next to Mesrobian head coach Mike Gabriel on the right. These photos were all on numerous media platforms across the country on Friday morning.
The state record in boys hoops for most points scored in one game had been sitting at 100 points for 22 years and on Thursday night it fell amazingly to a player from the same school who scored 102. As the exclusive home for state boys basketball records (and the girls too) for many years, we have all of the details on what Nick Khatchikian from Mesrobian of Pico Rivera accomplished and have updated our all-time record files in several categories. And since it happened in a game Nick’s team won 119-25 and was leading 79-0 at halftime, other details also are required to be mentioned.
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Whenever something crazy happens like a player scoring 102 points in one game, it can get intense and busy for a few hours for anyone who spends time updating and following state basketball records.
That’s what happened on Thursday night when media reports began coming in that Nick Khatchikian from Mesrobian of Pico Rivera had scored 102 points to break the single-game state record.
Before getting into the questionable aspects of the record-breaking achievement, let’s focus on the positives. Nick is a 6-foot-2 senior guard who was averaging 28 points per game this season and has a 3.5 GPA. He has one reported college offer, which has come in from High Point University in North Carolina.
Nick and his twin brother Dylan obviously took advantage of their team playing a hopelessly out-manned opponent in Waverly of Pasadena on Thursday night, but what they did counts and has already been officially added to the only California state records that exist, which is ours at Cal-Hi Sports. There are no CIF state records except for CIF state championship games.
La’Melo Ball is shown during 2017 at Chino Hills, which is the same year when he scored 92 points in one game. Photo: James Escarcega.
For single game scoring, Khatchikian broke the state record that had been set in February of 2003 by Tigran Gregoryan from the same Mesrobian school in Pico Rivera. The state record before that of 89 points had been set in February of 1992 by then junior Chad Bickley from Valley Christian of Santa Maria. The progressive state record in that category actually goes back to a 1910 game in which Art Worthy of Huntington Beach had 58 points in an even more lopsided game that what happened on Thursday night (111-3 over Santa Ana).
According to reporting by Fred Robledo of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Tigran is an assistant coach on the team but wasn’t present for the record breaking night. Head coach Mike Gabriel said in the same reporting that he and the team decided to go for the record after Nick had scored 40 points (all of team’s points) in the first quarter (the Bulldogs were leading 40-0). Khatchikian then had 79 points at halftime (team was ahead 79-0) and Nick was taken out of the game in the third quarter after he had surpassed Gregoryan’s record. Nick had made 48 of 60 shots from the field at the time of his departure so he likely didn’t even go up and down the court that much. As the great LeBron James himself said when responding about it: “I want to see the film.”
Katchikian also set a new state record for most points in a half with his 79 in the first half on Thursday. He broke the previous record of 62 set in February of 2017 by current NBA superstar and then sophomore La’Melo Ball of Chino Hills. But Ball will still hold on to the record for most points in a quarter with 41 that game in the same game, a 146-123 win that his team had vs Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga. La’Melo had 92 points in that game (which now drops to third on the all-time list) but that performance was different since the other team was practically matching Chino Hills in scoring that night. It is the highest scoring game (two teams) in state history.
The other equally amazing part of Nick scoring 102 points in one game for the same school that had a player with 100 points is what Nick’s twin brother, Dylan, accomplished. Dylan was the one getting the assists for Nick and he ended the night with 35 assists.
Dylan’s 35 assists not only set a new state record (previous mark of 31 was held by Josh Arruejo from La Verne Calvary Baptist since Jan. 2019), but also is reportedly tied for the national record. Arruejo’s 31 assists came in the same game – 108-80 win vs. Corona Crossroads – in which Calvary Baptist’s Joel Pastrana scored 70 points and set a state record with 23 three-pointers.
A lot of single game state and national records in many sports — such as Lisa Leslie of Inglewood Morningside scoring 101 points in one half, Inglewood High’s Justyn Martin throwing for a state record 13 TDs passes in one game, and Thursday’s game by the Katchikian brothers — can be called into question by sportsmanship or lack of competition issues. Those issues are not part of the record book lists and shouldn’t be. Presenting facts such as scoring all 79 points in a 79-0 score at halftime, however, also happened and can be added. It’s the interpretation of that which is up to every coach, school administrator, CIF official, parent or fan to consider.
Katchikian’s records also come during a stretch in which the state career scoring record of 3,462 points set in 2004 by DeMarcus Nelson of Sacramento Sheldon is likely going to fall in the next week to 10 days to Santa Maria St. Joseph’s Tounde Yessoufou. He scored 36 points in a win on Thursday to push his career total from 3,313 to 3,349.
No one can claim anything questionable about the career record. It takes four years of varsity play, scoring at a high level for all four years, and team success because the extra playoff games can really add up the points.
The other aspect of Katchikian’s record on Thursday night is that it provided the spark to not only add his 102 points at the top of the all-time list, but also to figure out and add the players in state history who have scored 64 points. There was a 64-point game just last week by Devin Moody of Los Angeles Manual Arts. That one has now been added along with eight others. Previously to this week, we had only been listing those with 65 points or more. Adding the ones with 64 also shows how rare it is still to score that much in one game. The last 64-point game, for example, before Moody’s was back in February of 1990 by Tony Clark from Christian of El Cajon, the same Tony Clark who has been executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association since 2013.
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle.
