COVINGTON, Ga. — Ashton Hagans has reached another milestone in his Newton High basketball career, and the junior five-star point guard will be honored for it Tuesday. 

Hagans scored his 1,000th point during Newton’s 70-65 loss to Trinity (Louisville, KY) back on Dec. 29 at the FBI Classic in Spartanburg, SC. Coming into the game, the 6-foot-4, UGA commit needed just six points to reach the 1,000-point club, but ended up with 25 in the game, although the reaching that mark was a complete surprise to him. 

“I didn’t realize I was close until after the game,” Hagans said. “I guess Coach (Rick Rasmussen) just didn’t want me to focus on it.”

Hagans became just the fourth Newton Rams player in Rasmussen’s 13-year tenure to reach the 1,000-point mark. Hagans joins Jerrell Boswell (2006), Derrick Henry (2011) and JD Notae (2017) in rare company. 

“To do this exactly halfway through a 25-game schedule, in game number 12 is an impressive feat,” Rasmussen said. “I didn’t tell him ahead of time because I didn’t want him to be nervous. We announced it after the game” 

The fact that Hagans has been a three-year starter for the sixth-ranked Rams could be a big reason why he’s reached such rarified air so quickly in his career. And while he says he has no plans of allowing this accomplishment to get to his head, he does acknowledge an interest in trying to see how far he can stretch his career point total — namely the 2,000-points mark. 

“Two thousand points?” Hagans said. “We’ll see. I’m certainly going to try. 

Newton will honor Hagans’ milestone with a plaque presented to him at halftime of Tuesday’s girls’ game with Shiloh. The fourth-ranked Lady Rams will host the Lady Generals at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The boys game will follow immediately after.