Westfield's Carson Swanson shooting up WNY basketball all-time scoring list

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Descendant from a Chautauqua hardwood institution, Carson Swanson is crafting his own legend in the Southern Tier.

Grandson of the great Sherman High School girls basketball coach Mel Swanson, Western New York's all-time leader with 607 victories who once dunked on Bills great Andre Reed in a charity game, Swanson's father Nolan was nominated for the McDonald's All-American game in his day, and went attain All-America status running for Wake Forest University, and on professional contract with Nike. His mother Amy (née) King set no fewer than 15 records playing for Daemen College, earning induction into the school's athletics Hall of Fame.

The sleek, springy 6-foot-2 senior at Westfield has brought more glory to his family name in ascending to fourth on WNY's career boys basketball scoring list with 2,351 points. Swanson enters Tuesday night's Section VI Class C semifinal game against Randolph needing 26 points to overtake longtime record-holder Ritchie Campbell (2,355) from Burgard, and Cheektowaga's Dominick Welch (2,376) for second on the all-time list behind Timon's Jaiden Harrison (2,476).

Leading the area in averaging 32 points this season, Swanson surpassed Jamestown's Maceo Wofford for the Chautauqua County record last month on a breakaway dunk that capped a 39-point outing. Swanson had a 43-point triple-double on the night he went over 2,000 points, and scored a school-record 47 in the sectional quarterfinals.

"It's amazing for this area," said Wofford, who happened to be one of the assigned referees for Swanson's historical senior night. "I was grateful to be a part of it."

"We don't always get the recognition we deserve for having talent down here," added Wofford, the 1999 WNY player of the year before moving on to Iona College. "Compared to Buffalo, it's like crumbs from a boulder. I made history at one point, but I'm not the slightest bit angry my record got broken. I'm happy someone from the Southern Tier was able to reach those heights and surpass them."

Also Westfield's career leader in soccer scoring, and third in county history with 97 goals, Swanson has received the most recognition for his scoring exploits. But there's a whole lot more to his basketball game.

Swanson leads WNY in averaging eight assists and six steals, taking after his mother who set an NAIA record with 654 steals in college. He also averages six rebounds from the point guard position, and was awarded for his toughness at the Jay Bilas Skills Camp last summer.

"He's a pleasure to watch, not just as his dad, but as his coach," Nolan Swanson said. "He doesn't run his mouth. He plays hard, he plays quiet, he plays tough. You're not going to see him complain. He just goes out there and goes about his business. And I thank him for that. Because if he was a cocky kid running his mouth all the time, I wouldn't like having to defend him very much."

Nolan Swanson was 30th on WNY's all-time scoring list when he graduated from Sherman in 1994, and he played pickup games with players from the Wake Forest team that ranked in the top 10 throughout his time on campus. He received the Arnold Palmer Athlete of the Year award in 1998. The previous year's winner was Tim Duncan.

Yet since Carson didn't follow his father's running path, Nolan defers developmental credit to his basketball family. Along with Mel Swanson, now sitting on Westfield's bench, and mom's influence, oldest son Darien, now playing golf at Mercyhurst, was the leading scorer on Westfield's 2022 sectional championship team.

"Carson has been around basketball for a long time," Nolan Swanson said. "He just has a knack for the game. He understands angles, bounces, and all that. He knows how to make the right play."

Tuesday night's sectional game, a rematch of last year's Class C final between WNY's top-ranked small schools, features Swanson going against Randolph's Drew Hind, another among the area's top 25 all-time scorers. It might be the first time in WNY history that 2,000-point scorers meet in the playoffs. The teams played once before this season, a tightly-contested 43-39 Westfield win that captivated a full gym at St. Joe's for the CenterCourt Classic.

"It was nice to get in front of the Buffalo fans and show them that we could play," Carson Swanson said after assisting on the winning basket in that game. "Drew is a great player. The competition between Westfield and Randolph has turned into a great rivalry the past couple years. Sometimes people look at the box scores from from smaller schools and don't give it the same respect. I definitely feel like there's something to prove."

Swanson became friendly with WNY's all-time leading scorer while playing AAU basketball, and Harrison provided his blessing to take his best shot at the record.

"Jaiden worked really hard to get that record and he deserved it," Swanson said. "But it's a great feeling to know that he's rooting for me to break it."

Swanson won a championship as a freshman playing with his brother. He said another title would mean more than the scoring record. But it's a compounding factor that the further Westfield advances in the postseason, the greater opportunity he has to pile up points.

"It's definitely motivating," Swanson said. "I'm not where I'm at without the guys on my team letting me do what I do. Everybody supports each other, and it's nice to be on a team like that, knowing we all care. I want us all to win."