(Matt McCarthy/Daily News photo) Iron Mountain senior Foster Wonders (00) points to the Mountaineers crowd after accepting a plaque from Iron Mountain athletic director Donny Bianco for scoring his 2000th career point Tuesday night at the Mountaineer Gymnasium.

IRON MOUNTAIN — Scoring milestones are special in any sport, but often much more special for a high school athlete.

On Tuesday night at the Mountaineer Gymnasium, Iron Mountain senior Foster Wonders surpassed 2,000 points in a 58-52 non-conference victory over Escanaba.

With the Mountaineers leading 5-0 early in the first quarter, the 6-foot 5-inch Wonders drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to reach the milestone. Wonders finished the game at 2,026 career points, just 50 points shy of the school record of 2,076 held by former teammate Marcus Johnson.

The Mountaineers have three regular season games left — tonight at Westwood, Tuesday at West Iron County and March 18 versus undefeated Bark River-Harris.

The list of players in U.P. high school basketball history that have broken the 2,000 career point mark now contains 11 names, including Wonders. The future Southern Illinois Saluki has already surpassed Jim Hammerberg of Baraga, who netted 2,010 points from 1992-96.

Another player that Wonders passed on the state’s all-time scoring list is NBA Hall of Famer and Michigan native Ervin “Magic” Johnson. “Magic” netted 2,012 points for Lansing Everett in 78 games from 1974-77.

“I passed “Magic”? That’s crazy,” Wonders exclaimed Wednesday.

Wonders thanks a variety of people in helping him accomplishing this feat — most notably his parents, Matt and Julie Wonders, both Hall of Fame basketball players at Northern Michigan University.

“I may have accomplished something they didn’t, but I have a long way to go to fill their shoes,” Wonders said.

Upon leaning of his son’s statement in regard to his parents, Matt laughed and said of his youngest son, “Yeah right. He was already better than me in eighth grade.”

“It feels great to accomplish this,” Foster Wonders said. “As I reflect on it now, and this really means a lot. With my great coaches at every level, and some great teammates, I wouldn’t be in this moment,” he added.

For Wonders to break this point plateau in a mere 80 games is remarkable in that, for the previous three seasons, he played with the only other 2,000-point scorer in Mountaineers school history.

“It’s pretty special to have two 2,000 point scorers, playing with each other for three years,” Wonders said. “It was like a movie, playing with Marcus. It’s different playing this year without him, but he set the tone for all of us, me included,” he said.

Two other area players are in the 2,000-point club, one being Niagara’s Anna DeForge. From 1991-1994, she drained 2,601 points for the Lady Badgers, before moving on to play at the University of Nebraska and in the WNBA.

A personal acquaintance of Wonders happens to be the all-time leading scorer in U.P. history, Forest Park graduate Lexi Gussert. The former Michigan State player netted 2,630 points in her four-year career as a Lady Trojan.

“I want to congratulate Foster Wonders on joining the 2,000-point club,” Gussert said via email on Wednesday. “I think what makes it better is he probably couldn’t have cared less and was more excited about getting a big win for his team and community Tuesday night. That’s the type of player and person he is. Hopefully he finds some time to look back and enjoy it, though. Two thousand points is no joke, especially when he has a target on his back each night and has had to handle all sorts of different defenses thrown out at him.”

The U.P. boys scoring record stands at 2,178 and is held by current Central Michigan defensive back Gage Kreski of St. Ignace. Kreski, whose father Paul is from Aurora, Wis., netted his point total in 90 games from 2013-16.

With the MHSAA postseason tournament on the horizon, it’s fair to say Wonders may at least get a shot a surpassing Kreski’s scoring mark.

Wonders and Kreski, incidentally, have been friends since childhood. Kreski’s mother Deanna (Sutton) Kreski and Wonders’ mother, Julie, played colligately together at NMU.

Current Iron Mountain head boys basketball coach Harvey “Bucky” Johnson recently told WJMN Channel 3’s Jake Durant that he started coaching Wonders in Little League baseball when he was around 9 years old. He said Wonders is one of the best student-athletes he’s had the privilege of coaching.

“He’s a coachable kid, he’s a hard worker, he’s got a tremendous attitude, he gets along with his teammates. I could go on and on,” coach Johnson said.

Johnson says Wonders is deserving of all of his success.

“We all know his story in terms of becoming a college basketball player and he’s going to achieve that goal and reach that dream. He’s very deserving of it,” he added.

List of U.P. 2000 point scorers:

Lexi Gussert, Forest Park: 2,630 in 103 games, 2011-2014

Gage Kreski, St. Ignace: 2,178 in 90 games, 2013-16

Dominic Jacobetti, Negaunee St. Paul: 2,140 in 89 games, 1962-65

Jim Manning, Trout Creek: in 84 games, 1958-1961

Allison Bailey, Ewen-Trout Creek: 2,131 in 98 games, 1994-97

Bob Gale, Trout Creek: 2,086, in 88 games, 1963-66

Marcus Johnson, Iron Mountain: 2,076 in 99 games, 2017-20

Jason Whitens, North Central: 2,062 in 109 games, 2014-2017

Krista Clement, St. Ignace: 2,060 in 104 games, 2000-03

Foster Wonders, Iron Mountain: 2,026, 2018-present

Jim Hammerberg, Baraga: 2,010 from 1992-96

(Matt McCarthy/Daily News photo) Iron Mountain senior Foster Wonders (00) points to the Mountaineers crowd after accepting a plaque from Iron Mountain athletic director Donny Bianco for scoring his 2000th career point Tuesday night at the Mountaineer Gymnasium.