Byng junior Malachi Schilreff was a relative late comer to the game of basketball but he is quickly making up for that lost time.

“I didn’t really get seriously into basketball until about the seventh grade when some of my friends convinced me to join a team,” said Schilreff who also plays on the Pirates baseball team.

As the point guard, Malachi is responsible for running the show on the floor for Byng and this year by averaging 27 points a game he also put a target on his back for opposing teams. But his coach Zack Samaha says Malachi handled it well.

“He really paced us offensively this year and I thought he did a real good job of handling the pressure of being the No. 1 option and knowing all the other teams were game planning a way to try and stop him,” Samaha said. “Through it all he still managed to average 27 points a game and when you’re doing that in 4A ball you’re doing a pretty good job.”

Schilreff credits his coaches for helping him find a way to deal with the pressure of being “the man.”

“They just told me to let the game come to me and not force everything and that made it a lot easier to get open and score,” Schilreff said. “I liked Kobe [Bryant] because of his mentality and my parents have helped me get this far and I just want to pay them back for all they’ve done for me.”