BUTTE — For Butte High's Hudson Luedtke, becoming just the second player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and now being on the cusp of becoming the highest-scoring boy in Bulldog basketball history has been the byproduct of trying to help his team succeed.
"I was just along for the ride, trying to win games," said the junior guard. "I knew it was something that would come, though."
Luedtke scored 18 points in the Bulldogs' win over Missoula Big Sky on Friday at the Butte Civic Center to lift his career total to 1,003. He accomplished the feat in 59 games while averaging 17 points per game.
"I was trying to not keep track in my head, because I feel when you do that, you try a little too hard," he said of how closely he was following his quest to reach 1,000. "It wasn't a surprise, I knew I was close. But when they announced it I was like, 'oh.'"
He is now 19 points shy of the all-time program record of 1,022 set by John Dawson who played for the Bulldogs from 1966-68. Luedtke will get a shot at surpassing that mark when the 7-3 Bulldogs host 8-1 Helena on Thursday.
"It was crazy to see Hudson was up there on the list after two years," said Matt Luedtke, Hudson's father and Butte High's sixth-year head coach. "And I figured that he'd be breaking the record about midway through the year.
"Really cool to be a part of it, especially since it's my son."
