Scoring machine. Meet Lincolnton’s LJ Smith, a sophomore averaging 34.3 points per game

Not many high school sophomores in America can score the ball like Lincolnton High School’s LJ Smith.

In fact, there are just two.

Averaging 34.3 points per game, Smith is ranked No. 3 among all U.S. sophomores and No. 14 overall. Smith leads North Carolina in scoring, just ahead of Anson County’s Jayden Little (33.2).

A 6-foot-5, 170-pound guard, Smith was the only sophomore among 10 finalists for the N.C. Mr. Basketball award that’s annually given by The Charlotte Observer and The News and Observer of Raleigh to signifying the state’s player of the year.

“It’s really big to me,” Smith said. “But a goal I want to accomplish this season is to get to a state championship.”

Lincolnton has never won a state championship. The Wolves lost to Morehead 89-65 in the 1993 N.C. 3A state championship.

With a 13-4 overall record, 7-1 Catawba Valley 2A Conference record that is second only to rival Maiden and a current No. 7 Western N.C. 2A ranking, the Wolves are certainly among the contenders.

LJ Smith is certainly a big reason why.

As a freshman, Smith only played 16 of 28 games due to injury, but he averaged 32.2 points per game on 56% shooting.

This season, he’s bumped his scoring, to 34.3, to go with 7.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He’s already surpassed 1,000 career points and has set a Lincoln County record for most 40-point games.

“There’s a lot of kids who have been good at the game of basketball,” Lincolnton head coach Jalen Littlejohn said. “But there’s not a lot with LJ’s talent and desire to be great.

“I believe in him because he’s one of those ‘first one to show up and the last one to leave’ types, and he’s a great character kid on and off the court.”

In Friday’s 66-60 win over rival Bunker Hill, Smith had an “off night” with 24 points.

But he shined brightest when his team needed him most. He scored 12 of his points in the final 12 minutes of the game. Smith’s drive to the basket, followed by an assist to teammate Tyler McClain for a layup, gave the Wolves the lead for good at 44-42.

“As a coach, you want to have the ball in No. 4’s hands,” Littlejohn said, referencing Smith’s uniform number. “He’s going to bring us home.”

Littlejohn, a 2012 Lincolnton High graduate in his third year as Wolves’ head coach after six years as an assistant coach at rival East Lincoln, has known his star player’s family for years.

LJ Smith’s father, Junior Smith, was a 2002 Lincolnton High graduate who was a two-sport standout. Junior Smith was an All-Charlotte Observer defensive lineman (Gaston/Lincoln edition) in 2001 when the Wolves advanced to that year’s Western N.C. 2A regional championship and he also played for the Wolves’ basketball team.

“I grew up here, my dad lives here and I’ve got a great head coach,” LJ Smith said.

In just 32 career games, LJ Smith has joined select company in Lincoln County and Lincolnton history.

With six career games of 40 or more points — his high game is 46 against Cherryville last season — LJ Smith has surpassed the previous county record of four career 40-point games set by former East Lincoln and Lincolnton standout Sage Surratt. (Surratt went on to become an All-ACC receiver at Wake Forest and played receiver in the the USFL and UFL.)

The first 40-point game in Lincolnton history of 44 points came in 1963 from Dennis Byrd, a future N.C. State All-American defensive end and College Football Hall of Famer. Byrd was a 1968 NFL first-round draft pick by the Patriots.

“He’s putting up the numbers, and he’s got a great body build,” said Littlejohn, who has received recruiting emails and/or texts from more than 100 colleges (among them ACC and SEC schools). “I’ve known LJ, basically, since he was born. So he’s home-grown.

“I remember him as a little kid working in the gym — and he’s still doing work in the gym.”