South Wasco County's Jason Hull, a 6-foot-3 guard, has reached the 40-point mark three times this season. (Photo by Yancy Wells)

South Wasco County junior Jason Hull, who was on pace to break the freshman state scoring record before suffering a dislocated kneecap that sidelined him through his sophomore year, is thriving in his return to the basketball court this season.

The 6-foot-3 guard is averaging 32.3 points per game for the Redsides, who are 18-4 overall, 9-2 in the 1A Big Sky League. With 712 points, he is closing in on the junior state record of 799, set by Powder Valley's Trenton Dixon in 2010.

“It's been great,” Hull said. “After missing that much time, you don't take it for granted anymore when you get out there. You're much more grateful every time you get through another game.”

Hull said the knee is holding up fine, although he did have a scare at Pacific on Dec. 20 when cartilage popped in his knee, a harmless lingering effect from his recovery.

“That's only happened once. They say it might happen again, but I'm hoping not,” he said. “It's pretty painful, but it only hurts for about 10, 20 minutes, and it's fine.”

Does the knee cause him to hesitate?

“It did for about the first 10 games of the year, but ever since the last time, I was like, 'I just can't worry about it anymore,'” he said. “I've just got to play with my head clear.”

His father, South Wasco County coach Jim Hull, said Jason has put the injury behind him.

“Early in the season, I thought he was probably about 80 percent, and that's the mental piece,” Jim Hull said. “But he's 100 now. He's attacking, pushing, shoving, all those little things.

“He brings a high level of confidence as he plays. The other kids are playing more confident.”

Jason Hull averaged 28.7 points in 2022-23 – including a freshman state record 54-point game – before going down with the injury in the team's 20^th game. He opted not to have surgery, but reinjured the knee at a Linfield College camp in September 2023. He had surgery the following month, keeping him out of action last season.

Looking back, Jim Hull said Jason would have benefited from surgery after the initial injury.

“If I'd known what I know now, I would have made them do surgery and fix it,” Jim Hull said.

Jason has been outstanding this season, scoring at least 30 points 14 times and reaching the 40-point mark three times, recording a season high of 45. He is shooting 47.0 percent from the field, including 37.0 percent from three-point range (83 for 224), and 68.4 percent on free throws (119 for 174).

He has grown two inches since his freshman season and added about 30 pounds, which has allowed him to better absorb contact on drives to the basket.

“I'm a lot more physical,” he said. “I'm not playing as much outside. I'm going in more because they try to run me off the three-point line. I've also developed much more of a jump shot to elevate over people.”

With an improved one-on-one game, Jason often attacks quickly in possessions. It's a change from his freshman season, when many of his points came off the ball and in the open court.

“Now he's got to be our one-guard or two-guard, so he's ball dominant,” Jim Hull said. “Our team does a good job of when he doesn't have the ball, setting away screens, getting him clear.”

Defenses load up to stop him.

“I've faced a lot of box-and-ones, where there's a guy face-guarding,” Jason said. “I dribble one way, it's a double, and I go the other way, it's a double. Sometimes against shorter defenders, I drop low and get one on the block, shoot a turnaround.”

One opponent even used a triple-team.

“Guys grab his jersey, but he doesn't get frustrated,” Jim Hull said. “That just comes with it.”

With Jason back, the Redsides are much improved from last season, when they finished 8-16. They are bidding to make the state tournament for the first time since finishing as runners-up in 2022.

“We're having a great year,” Jason said. “Morale has been great. We're getting behind one goal of winning.”