1,000 Points and Counting for Drew Daoust

Southern Door sophomore point guard Drew Daoust has reached the 1,000-point career scoring mark after just 42 games and is on pace to become Door County’s all-time scoring leader in boys basketball. Photo by Rachel Lukas.

Sophomore on pace to shatter county scoring records

Drew Daoust has already accomplished something in fewer than two years of playing high school basketball that often takes top players four seasons to achieve: reaching 1,000 career points.

Needing only nine points to reach that milestone Jan. 31, the sophomore point guard from Southern Door High School joined the ranks of Door County’s all-time leading scorers with a game-high 32 points during the Eagles’ 76-39 nonconference victory at Two Rivers.

After a freshman campaign that produced 505 points throughout 26 games, Daoust exceeded that point total this season in 10 fewer games, at a clip of 32.4 points per game, and he continues to add to this career scoring total as he contributes to Southern Door’s success atop the Packerland Conference standings.

He is on pace to shatter the county’s career scoring record held by 1999 Southern Door graduate Nathan Vogel at 1,566 points. Another Daoust – Drew’s older brother Kyle, a 2019 Southern Door graduate – ranks second all time with 1,562 points.

The younger Daoust said he doesn’t let the scoring expectation get into his head.

“Obviously you see it, but you’re going to have a bad game sometimes,” he said. “You don’t want to focus on bad or good games – 30-point or 10-point games. You just have to stay even [mentally] throughout.”

Daoust said he’s seen all kinds of defenses put in place against Southern Door, with a focus on him as the team’s top scorer.

“Wherever I go, I get two guys [covering me] in the box-and-one [defense],” he said. “I’ve seen everything. Wherever I go, if I drive, I get three guys crashing down on me. You see a lot, but you learn from it all.”

Eagles head coach Josh VandenBush describes Daoust as a “jack-of-all-trades when it comes to scoring. He’s able to shoot the three-ball. He’s able to finish around the rim, and [he’s] a pretty good free-throw shooter as well.”

VandenBush credits Daoust with the success the team has achieved this season.

“If we didn’t have Drew scoring, how he’s scoring, we probably wouldn’t be as successful as what we are right now,” he said. “We have other guys who are stepping up and distributing the ball – Jared Hawkey in particular. He’s averaging 5.5 assists in a game.”

Hawkey credits Daoust with being able to find ways to score and find other teammates who are open to receive the ball, even when he’s being double teamed.

“He’s always moving without the ball, and he’s always knocking down shots,” he said.

Hawkey said Daoust is a leader on the court that the team isn’t able to do as well without.

“He shows a lot of guys what to do, what they’re doing wrong,” he said. “He’s always helping everyone out, making everyone else better.” 

VandenBush said opponents of late have been trying to keep Daoust from getting the ball.

“Mostly what he’s been seeing now is guys just face-guarding him, trying all out to deny him from getting the ball at all, and then the occasional double team that will come from somebody else’s guy, where he might not be looking,” VandenBush said. “But Drew’s a good enough player and has enough poise as a sophomore to retreat-dribble out of it and find the open guy.”

VandenBush said Daoust has a bright future ahead of him.

“We like to focus on this year, but if we are looking forward to next year and beyond, the team dynamics are going to be a little bit different,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of seniors graduating this year. We’re not sure what that’s going to look like next year. He’s kind of the scorer this year, but maybe next year he might have to facilitate maybe a little bit more. But I’m confident that he’s good enough in his basketball skills to be able to handle whatever role that he needs to do.”

Like others who have preceded him or are currently on the Eagles’ boys basketball team, Daoust is a three-sport athlete who also plays football in the fall and baseball in the spring. 

He was the Eagles’ starting quarterback last fall when the team went undefeated during the regular season and won the Packerland Conference championship. Last spring he was part of the conference championship team in baseball and received honorable mention in the Packerland as a pitcher. Daoust said that success playing together throughout the year helps bring about a winning mentality at Southern Door.

Basketball remains his favorite, with a goal to play at the Division I or II college level, and Daoust said his play on the court is already attracting interest from colleges such as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

“They contact Coach VandenBush because they’re not technically allowed to talk to me yet,” he said. “Most of the [college] coaches will talk to Coach VandenBush, and he’ll tell me what they have to say.”

Daoust said he wants to keep his opportunities open and wait until his senior year to decide where he’d like to play at the college level “unless a really good opportunity comes about.”