By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Maynard Rowe has joined an elite group of Osceola County high school basketball players, those who have scored more than 2,000 points over their careers.

The Heritage Christian High senior smiled while accepting congratulations, but he made it clear that the milestone was only a pit stop along the way to his destination.

“I know it’s nice, but I want to win a championship,” he said.

Eagle Coach Jim Estrella said that reaction is vintage Maynard.

“He’s always been a quiet, humble kid,” Estrella said.

Rowe broke 2,000 points during a homecoming win over Providence Christian at the Eagle gym Jan. 21. He had, for him, a below average total of 14 points as the Eagles cruised to an easy 73-14 win.

Rowe, 5-11, switched from swing guard to point guard this season and he fills the dual role of both playmaker and scorer.

“It’s OK, I like it,” Rowe said.

Estrella said Rowe’s unself-ishness sometimes becomes a minor problem when he plays the point.

“He’s so concerned about passing the ball that I have to tell him to take his shot,” Estrella said.

Rowe, now at 2,124­ points, has done that often enough to average 27 points per game. Paired with talented junior guard Josh Newman (who has more than 1,400 career points), Estrella has two of the county’s most prolific scorers.

“Before the season, I knew that with Maynard and Josh, we had 50 points a game,” Estrella said. “All we had to do is to find another 15 or so from the other guys, and we should be set.”

So far, that formula has worked well as the Eagles have forged a 19-4 record and wrapped up a playoff berth in the Florida Christian Conference’s Eastern Division. Heritage Christian is a lock for a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which be-gins next week.

With only a seven-man roster at Heritage, Rowe rarely leaves the court.

“That’s OK It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to playing all the time,” he said.

Estrella said he feared at one time that Rowe would not be a Heritage player, given his skills.

“In sixth grade, you could see it. You could tell that he had that knack for getting to the basket, just a natural ability,” Estrella said. “In the past, we’ve lost kids (to larger schools) because they thought that they’d have more exposure, more opportunities for scholarships.”

That’s not a problem with Rowe, whose father insisted that he stay at Heritage Christian. Estrella said his high-scoring guard already is receiving offers from small colleges, near and far. Rowe looks forward to the challenge of playing college basketball.

“I probably need to improve my ball-handling, maybe get a little quicker,” he said.

Although a gifted athlete, Rowe never was tempted to stray from basketball.

“When we had football here, the coach was drooling when he saw him, but Maynard never was interested. I told him it was his decision, but he just didn’t want to do it,” Estrella said.

His favorite players include Miami’s LeBron James and Denver’s Carmelo Anthony.

“I like LeBron, but not that much. Probably Carmelo a little more,” Rowe said said.

Rowe’s LeBron-like last-second, half-court 3-point shot that upset Poinciana during the 2009-10 season will be long remembered among Eagle fans.

“If he has one most memorable highlight, that probably was the one,” Estrella said.

Rowe joins former Eagle Jay Kingston (2,015 points) in Heritage Christian’s 2,000 points club. Rowe reached his milestone in less than four seasons.

“He could have played with the varsity in the eighth grade, but his dad wanted him to play with the JV team until he was in high school,” Estrella said.

Had Rowe played as an eighth-grader, he probably would have challenged St. Cloud High’s Tim Gatz as the county’s all-time male scorer. Gatz scored nearly 2,400 points for the Bulldogs from 1988-91. Osceola High’s legendary duo of Frank Ford and Jimmy McCrimon each surpassed 2,000 points from 1980-83, and Gateway High star Keaton Grant tallied over 2,100 points from 1992-95.

St. Cloud’s Dana Smith is the county’s all-time leading scorer, male or female, with 3,600 points over her four-year career from 1991-94. She led the Lady Bulldogs to the 1994 state championship.

Heritage Christian has an opportunity to earn its first FCC title in a decade and its fourth overall.

The Eagles have lost only once in the conference, two weeks ago against West Melbourne.

The team that dominated the conference over the past several years, Faith Christian, withdrew from FCC play last season. Heritage lost to Faith in the championship game two years ago, and last season the Eagles were eliminated by Faith in the semifinal round.

“That’s our goal,” Rowe said. “It would be nice to win it.”