Newark

When thinking of all of the ways that Anas Amos can impact a basketball game, scoring is not usually near the top of the list. Despite making his reputation as a pass-first guard and a lockdown defender, Amos now finds himself in exclusive company in Newark East Side history as the program's eighth 1,000-point scorer since co-head coaches Anthony Tavares and Bryant Garvin took over in 2000.

Amos scored 10 points, including the 1,000th of his career as East Side, No. 17 in the NJ.com Top 20, defeated Payne Tech, 70-60, in Newark. Amos, who set the milestone with an and-one late in the first quarter, now has 1,003 points.

For Amos, who has been the team's starting point guard since the moment he arrived in the Ironbound school as a freshman, his greatest impact can be measured by the amount of wins the Red Raiders have gotten with him running the offense. Thursday's win was his 99th in an East Side uniform, more than any other player to wear the red, white and black. He'll be going for No. 100 - and a third straight Essex County Tournament title - on Saturday when Newark East Side plays Montclair Immaculate in the ECT final at 3:30 p.m. Earlier this season, the 5-foot-9 senior became just the second player, joining Science Park great Kenneth Ortiz, to win four Newark Public Schools championships.

This season, Amos has taken on a larger scoring role, netting 13.9 points per game for Newark East Side (21-4). As a junior, he averaged 7.8 points per game on a team, which made the NJSIAA Group 4 final. He averaged 7.0 points as a sophomore and 6.7 as a freshman.

Nasir Johnson and James Paul each scored 16 points for Newark East Side, which jumped out to an 18-10 first quarter advantage. Mikah Johnson Jr. added 15 points.

KyYon Chapman paced Payne Tech (11-11) with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Lampley scored 18 points and Dashaun Galloway added 17 points and five rebounds.