High School

Tounde Yessoufou live updates recap: Baylor signee breaks California state scoring record (2-1-2025)

St. Joseph of Santa Maria senior, McDonald's All-American powers in a fastbreak And-1 and finishes with 30 points in a lopsided win over Weston Ranch; He now has 3,467 career points to 3,462 for previous leader Demarcus Nelson.

Mitch Stephens

Tounde Yessoufou gives one last acknowledgement to crowd after he scored 30 points to break the California High School career scoring record Saturday at St. Joseph of Santa Maria High School. Following video tribute and speech from Yessoufou who now has 3,467 points to surpass Demarcus Nelson's 3,462. The class Nelson sent a video congratulations message to Yessoufou as well.
Tounde Yessoufou gives one last acknowledgement to crowd after he scored 30 points to break the California High School career scoring record Saturday at St. Joseph of Santa Maria High School. Following video tribute and speech from Yessoufou who now has 3,467 points to surpass Demarcus Nelson's 3,462. The class Nelson sent a video congratulations message to Yessoufou as well. / Photo: Mitch Stephens

SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA — The names read like basketball legends, because quite frankly, they are: Bill Russell. Jason Kidd. Bill Walton. Reggie Miller Gary Payton.

The modern list are perennial NBA all-stars: James Harden, Russell Westbrook. Kawhi Leonard. Damian Lillard. Paul George.

What they all have in common is this: They played high school basketball in California.

St. Joseph of Santa Maria senior Tounde Yessoufou, a soft-spoken, hard-charging, relentless 6-foot-6 power wing, will like Saturday pass all names to the top of the California career scoring list. He's 26 points shy of the leader Demarcus Nelson, who played 2001-2003 at Vallejo High School and 2004 at Sheldon-Sacramento.

Yessoufou, a native the West African nation of Benin, has poured in 3,437 points over his 119-game, game career according to statistics tracked on MaxPreps. Nelson, according to a record book tabbed by CalHiSports for over 50 years, has Nelson at 3,462.

Yessoufou isn't nearly a one-man gang. He plays for a 24-1 St. Joseph team that is ranked No. 3 in California. The Knights host Weston Ranch of Stockton (24-1) in a 5 p.m. game Saturday which Yessoufou is on pace to break the record. A model of consistency, he averages 28.2 points per game this season and has averaged 28.9 during his career.

We are at the game and tracking Yessoufou's every bucket which will will do here below. We'll add Twitter video highlights of some of his better buckets, including what we hope is the one that puts him over the top. So keep scrolling down throughout the day and hopefully by roughly 6 p.m. PDT, there will be a new California scoring career champion.

TOUNDE YESSOUFOU LIVE UPDATES 2-1-2025

Pregame

1st quarter

  • Yessoufou goes in for a fastbreak hoop to open game. Called for pushing off. Talk about a kill joy!
  • St. Joseph races to 12-3 and four of the Knights have scored. The only one who hasn't...Yessoufou. He's missed couple jumpers. 4:36 1Q.
  • Follow dunk by Yessoufou. 3:20 1Q. Two down, 24 to go.

2nd quarter

  • Yessoufou with two straight follows off his own misses. Super quick jumper. Relentless. He's up to 9 points - 17 to go 5:44 2Q.

WOW! Yessoufou called for his third offensive foul. St. Joseph has four in the half, and when assistant SJ coach questions, he's T'd up. Ridiculous. 38-23 SJ. 58 seconds left in half. "Yessoufou probably hasn't been called for three offensive fouls all season," said Sacramento Bee/California Sports Writer of the Year Joe Davidson.

  • Halftime: St. Joseph 42, Weston Ranch 23. Big news is Yessoufou has 11 points, but three fouls. He gets so many of his points driving to the hoop. Two of the three looked highly questionable. Might take away his aggressivelyness the second half.

3rd quarter

  • Yessoufou, with three fouls, starts second half. Immediately puts in an inside bucket. Up to 13 points, 13 points to go. 7:13 3Q.
  • Yessoufou with easy fastbreak hoop. Up to 15. 4:00 3Q.
  • Two free throws by Yessoufou gets him to 20. 2:24 3Q.
  • Yessoufou misses two free throws. St. Joseph leads 63-36 2:08 3Q.
  • Another Yessoufou 3 gives him 23. He needs a 3 to break the record. End of 3. St. Joseph 73, Weston Ranch 41.

4th quarter

  • Yessoufou breaks state record with an and-1 midway through 4th quarter. He leaves game with 30 points. He now has 3,467 points, bettering the total of 3,462 by Demarcus Nelson. Great moment.
  • Great moment for the product of West Africa. His teammates, coaches sincerely happy for the likeable, easy to smile lad.

Final score: St. Joseph 93, Weston Ranch 62.

Aftermath/celebration

  • As many have noted, Tessoufou's record will likely stand for less than a season. Jason Crowe Jr. of Inglewood will likely break the record. He's at 3,162 points with the rest of this season and next. Courtesy of Ronnie Flories
  • Great, classy move of DeMarcus Nelson, the previous record holder, sent a video message set up by Ronnie Flores.

Tounde Yessoufou gives hearty, humble speech about breaking the record. Typical of the soft spoken native of West Africal.

Published |Modified
Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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