After having the best view in the gym of Angel Castellano basketball exploits for the past two and a half years, you would think that there’s nothing left that could surprise Harrison head coach Jose Camano when it comes to his star guard.
On Wednesday at Secaucus, Castellano found a way to one-up himself.
Needing 11 points to reach 1,000 points for his career, Castellano hit that goal in the blink of an eye. The senior made his first four shots of the night – all 3-pointers – to reach the milestone just three minutes into the game.
Castellano hit the milestone so quickly, he admitted that some of his family members were unable to get to Secaucus in time to witness the moment in person.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that,” said Camano. “His first four shots were just so smooth that it was swish, swish, swish, swish. It happened so fast that I was just as shocked as everybody else.”
“It was really cool getting the four threes in a row,” Castellano said. “I was surprised myself. I didn’t think I was going to hit four in a row.”
Castellano went on to finish with 32 points and five made 3-pointers in Harrison’s overtime loss to Secaucus. It was Castellano’s fourth 30-plus point game in a span of just 15 days and his third consecutive game with five 3-pointers.
For his torrid offensive production and for becoming just the 11th Harrison boy to score 1,000 points, Castellano is The Observer Athlete of the Week.
This season, Castellano leads both the NJIC and Hudson County in scoring with an average of 24.4 points per game.
“He doesn’t really shock me anymore because every time he’s on the court, I know I’m going to get 25 points from him no matter what,” Camano said. “He’s an unbelievable kid.”
Castellano has seen his scoring production explode from 13.6 points per game as a sophomore to 17.1 per game last season as a junior to his current average of 24.4. Camano credits the leap to the development of Castellano’s all-around game as he’s evolved into more than just a shooter on the court.
“He developed how to create a shot off the dribble, which helps him a lot.,” Camano said. “He didn’t have that his sophomore, junior year. He was more of a spot shooter last year. He started getting a little bit better off the dribble, but this year, coming into his senior year, he is different. Once he puts it on the ground, it’s one dribble, pull up. He doesn’t change his shot, he’s just gotten quicker.”‘
“I think it’s really going to help me because I feel like people already know that I’m a shooter,” said Castellano, who trained extensively in Union City throughout the offseason. “If I improve all of my game, I think it will make it way easier to score.”
With 1,021 points and counting, Castellano, at his current place, could potentially climb all the way into the top five all-time for scoring at Harrison.
Where Castellano’s basketball future lies after high school is still yet to be decided. While his player’s college recruitment is still up in the air, Camano knows that Castellano will do what it takes to continue to develop in preparation for that next level.
“He’s a kid who wants to get to the highest point in basketball you could possibly get to,” Camano said. “He knows that there could be flaws in his game, but he wants to keep getting better and better. As a coach, you want to get that kid where he deserves to get to.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)