BLOOMING PRAIRIE  —  Matt Zellmer is that boy that you would see in the driveway shooting hoops all day long so that when game time comes he is able to shoot all night long.

And shoot he does for the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms boys’ basketball team to the tune 1000 points plus.

Zellmer, a senior, has played varsity since he was a freshman and by his sophomore year, although not a starter, saw serious playing time and he has been a big contributor to the Awesome Blossoms’ seasons ever since.

Prior to Zellmer’s arrival on the varsity scene, the Blossoms had not been able to even get close to the .500 mark in wins for a few seasons and as an eighth-grader, Zellmer watched from the stands as the school’s team went 4-21.

Over the next four years, BP began to find its winning ways.

As a freshman sitting on the varsity bench, Zellmer’s limited minutes helped his team accomplish a 7-17 mark and Zellmer’s sophomore influence, both on and off the court helped his team to a 14-12 record.

And again for a second year in a row the Blossoms were able to reach the 14 win mark in Zellmer’s junior year, going 14-11 and a loss to Hayfield in the first play-off game in overtime, 64-60.

So far this year the Awesome Blossoms (13-2 overall) are having a break out season as Zellmer is averaging over 25 points a game, while providing plenty of defense and rebounding.

The 6-foot, one-inch senior with his big smile, quick wit and blonde hair gives the crowd a show every time he suits up to play and against Randolph on the 26th of January, he made no exceptions.

With less than two minutes left in the first half, the Blossoms were leading the game with Zellmer at the foul line hoping to extend his teams’ lead.

Zellmer stood at the charity stripe with his left foot edging up to the black line.

In the meantime, Blossom’s head coach Jon Bruns has signaled Austin Moe (the Blossoms’ point guard) over and told him to immediately call a time out if Matt hits the first free-throw.

“Austin looked at me real weird,” Bruns said. “I could tell that he was questioning why we would need a time out here, so I quietly told him that if Matt hits this one it will be his 1000th point.”

Moe quickly turned to watch in anticipation as Zellmer was now putting the ball in the air and through the net it went.

There were a few cheers, and everyone settled back down until Moe called for the time out as the coach had requested.

Next came the game’s announcer, alerting the gymnasium full of fans that the Blossoms had called for a time out and then added that it was to congratulate Zellmer on making his 1000th career point.

The team and the fans immediately broke into a loud applause.

A standing ovation ensued from family, friends and fans for the next minute as team mates hugged, high fived and shoulder butted their friend and team mate for his the achievement.

Zellmer now joins five other Blossoms as 1000 point shooters in the school’s history and he currently sits in fifth among them.

Heading the list is Todd Krueckeberg, a 1980 graduate with 1,208 points.

With 11 games left to play in the regular season it is definitely within Zellmer’s reach to be found sitting atop that list.

 “Matt as an individual is real driven,” Bruns said. “Whatever he does he wants to be the best at it, whether it is sports or in the class room.”

As for the kid shooting hoops in the driveway?

“I drove by the Zellmer’s house after an ice storm and there was Matt,” Bruns said. “He had scraped off the ice on the driveway and was shooting. The funny thing was that the net was caked with ice and the ball would just stick in the net and each time Matt would take a hockey stick and hit the ball back out of the net. I yelled at him, ‘Good use of a hockey stick!’”

Zellmer scored 34 points and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in his career as Blooming Prairie cruised to an 86-60 win over Randolph. Bruns finally pulled Zellmer from the game with 10 minutes to go in the second half.

“Nobody on the team knew except that I had told Josh Johnson,” Bruns said. “So he could set a couple of extra screens for him.”

As for Zellmer,

“I was more surprised than excited,” Zellmer said. “We weren’t playing very good basketball at the time, so I didn’t really think it was a time to celebrate. We were only up by eight.”

Zellmer’s friend and team mate Austin Moe had this to say about the hoop star’s response.

“Sounds like typical Matt,” Austin Moe said. “He is more than a humble guy.”