Buratto burning up the scoreboards
Buratto is known as a great shooter, but much of his damage is done driving to the basket. (Photo by ERIC PLUMMER)
SANDPOINT — Sandpoint senior Stefan Buratto’s No. 12 jersey has been tugged at, grabbed and stretched out plenty this season.
Such defensive tactics are a badge of honor for a scoring machine, a sign that a defender must resort to any means necessary to stop them. Many have tried this season, and few have succeeded, as Buratto has torched the nets to the tune of 23 plus points per game.
The 6-foot-3 shooting guard has caught the eye of a few college recruiters this season, many enamored with Buratto’s silky jump shot, a stroke he’s been perfecting since he started playing hoops at 4 years-old.
So what is the secret to scoring 40 points a night twice this season, an extremely rare feat at any level of roundball?
“Making sure you follow through straight to the rim,” explains Buratto, who moved back to his hometown of Sandpoint after his sophomore year in Spokane. “Getting off quick hitters, stuff designed to get me shots.”
His size and quick first step create an instant mismatch against many of his defenders, so much so his coach says he’s faced “one-and-a-half to two defenders a night.” More than one opposing coach has called him the Inland Empire League’s best player, and his 42 point outburst against Post Falls broke Gary Elliot’s longtime SHS single game record by two points.
Some games he does the bulk of his damage shooting downy-soft pull up jumpers from the elbow and baseline, and others, like Tuesday’s 40 point effort against Lakeland, he earns by taking the ball hard to the rim. Carroll College, the University of Montana and North Idaho College are among the schools to have shown interest, and Columbia Basin Community College in Pasco has already offered a scholarship.
Sandpoint head coach Tyler Haynes calls Buratto the best player he’s ever coached in 21 years, bar none.
“No doubt about it,” says Haynes. “He does things I’ve never seen anybody do.”
Such as leading his team in scoring, assists, steals and blocked shots, while being second in rebounding. And unlike some great scorers, who’ve never met a shot they didn’t like, Buratto has been selective enough to make 52 percent of his shots, an especially high number for a jump shooter. He also plays both ends of the floor equally hard, another rare trait for some scorers.
Buratto is a third generation hoopster, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who played at Gonzaga back in the day, and his father, who played at Clarkston. When he’s not playing hoops he enjoys working on cars, and plans to play tennis his senior year after doing the high jump as a junior.
Wherever he chooses to go to college, he plans to study medicine, as his grandparents and mother did before him. But first he’s focused on beating Moscow twice, as the Bulldogs did last season, for a chance to play at state again.
As good as he is on the court, Haynes believes Buratto is a far better kid off it, and the two have forged a friendship over the past couple of years. When asked what he loved most about basketball, Buratto didn’t hesitate in answering being on a team.
“Even if you have a bad night, they’re there to back you up,” he says. “It’s nice to have that feeling. Everybody is out there for each other.”
Sandpoint hosts Lakeland, which lost 72-50 to Moscow, in a loser-out game at 3 p.m. Saturday.