Zach Dean had a game for the ages last night in the Green Valley Rec League. Dean scored a career-high 45 points and added 14 rebounds to secure a 99-82 victory for Dyme Pieces over Sweet “D”.

Any 45-point game is notable, but Dean’s is made more impressive due to his extreme efficiency. Dean only needed 24 shots to get to 45 points, shooting 17-24 from the field and 6-7 from beyond the arc. He made 5-6 from the charity stripe to round out his shooting percentage splits to 71/86/83 for the night.

Shooting from beyond the arc has never been Dean’s strong suit (he’s shot 35% from deep in 64 career games), and he knows it, but he was in the zone last night.

“I have a terrible 3-point shot,” Dean said. “I knew it was going to be a good game when I hit my first couple 3s.”

Dean’s previous career-high came last season in the rec league, when he dropped 41 in Week 1 against…you guessed it…Sweet “D”.

Green Valley Co-League Coordinator Dan Orozco describes Dean as being “built like a brick house,” and said that despite Dean being only 6’0”, there’s no one on Sweet “D” with the size or strength to guard him.

Luckily for Sweet “D”, there are 11 teams in the Green Valley Rec League, so the only chance they will see Dean again this season would be in the playoffs.