High school boys basketball: Provo's Craig Drury downplays 500th win

PROVO — With very little fanfare, Provo basketball coach Craig Drury picked up his 500th career victory at a tournament in Florida last month.

It was 43-41 win over Highlands Christian, Fla., at the St. Andrew's Holiday Classic. Only a handful of his players even knew the significance of the win, but nobody made a big deal about it. That's the way Drury prefers it. Even though the win represented the 500th of his unmatched 38-year coaching career, Drury said he viewed it simply as win No. 2 for the 2010-2011 Provo Bulldogs.

"In my opinion, wins are just a longevity thing. I'll get 1,000 wins if I'm around 25 more years," said Drury, who began coaching at age 32.

Win No. 500 almost came on the grandest of stages last March.

Heading into the 4A state tournament, Drury was sitting on 496 career victories. With Provo favored to win the state title, it appeared his milestone victory would accompany a state championship celebration. Instead, the Bulldogs lost in the semifinals as Drury finished the season with 498 victories.

Those two additional victories didn't come easily as Provo started this season 1-4 before heading to Florida for the St. Andrew's Holiday Classic.

Since winning No. 500, Drury has already tacked on No. 501 as Provo beat Maple Mountain 67-36 on Dec. 30.

Drury doesn't remember whom Provo beat for his first career victory back in 1983, but he does remember feeling pretty confident about his new job.

"I didn't think about the longevity of it, but I think every young coach starts out expecting to be successful. I don't think any coach starts out and says I'm going to be mediocre," said Drury.

Few coaches have ever enjoyed more success than Drury, whose eight state championships are a state record.

The Bulldogs dive into region play this Friday with a big game against visiting Lehi.

SURF 'N' SLAM: Highland guard Sam Orchard had himself a very impressive performance at the San Diego Surf 'N' Slam over the holiday break.

He averaged 19.6 points over three games to lead the Rams to the tournament title and was also named MVP of the tournament.

"He had a great tournament. He led us with three wins in four days," said Highland coach Keith West.

Orchard scored 19 points in a 62-53 win over Mark Morris, Wash. on Dec. 27 and followed it up with a 24-point afternoon in a 53-43 win over University City, Calif., the next day. In the championship game on Dec. 30 he battled through foul trouble to still finish with 17 points in a 48-39 win over Butler, Pa.

Highland kicks off region play this Friday at Stansbury.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com