There’s a simple explanation for why Mason Martin is playing varsity basketball for Neuqua Valley as a sophomore.
“He was the best shooter on the sophomore team last year,” coach Todd Sutton said with a chuckle.
Martin hasn’t been any less effective this season.
“He’s the leading 3-point shooter,” Sutton said.
Indeed, while freshman phenom Cole Kelly has made the most 3-pointers for the Wildcats, the 6-foot-3 Martin is the most efficient long-distance shooter, connecting on 39% of his attempts.
Martin eclipsed that rate in his playoff debut on Wednesday. After missing his first three shots from beyond the arc, Martin hit his final four. He scored 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to lift the seventh-seeded Wildcats to a 51-40 victory over 10th-seeded Naperville North in the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley Regional semifinals.
Kelly added 13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals for Neuqua Valley (20-12), which advances to play second-seeded Waubonsie Valley (30-2) in the regional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. Junior guard/forward Miles Okyne led Naperville North (17-15) with 16 points.
Martin, who is averaging 10.0 points per game, struggled with illness and inconsistency during the first half of the season. But Sutton’s confidence in him didn’t waver.
“Every time I’m open, our coaches keep telling me to shoot it,” Martin said. “So I’ve been working for so long on that.
“When I get it when I’m open, I’m going to keep shooting it. I’ve got to have that confidence.”
Which is why Martin wasn’t flustered when he and Kelly, who went scoreless in the first half, started slowly on Wednesday. The Huskies took a 20-18 halftime lead after Okyne hit a lean-in jumper at the buzzer.
“In the first half, I wasn’t really hitting all that,” Martin said. “I’ve just got to keep that confidence that the next one’s going in.”
It did. After Kelly and sophomore forward Danny Mikuta scored on putbacks, senior guard David Taiwo found Martin open underneath for a layup that gave the Wildcats a 24-20 lead.
It was the beginning of a 14-3 run during which Martin hit back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Neuqua Valley a 32-23 cushion.
“That’s his job — shoot the ball,” Sutton said.
Martin has been doing so more frequently in the past month, and his scoring has increased in proportion.
“He wasn’t always like that,” Neuqua Valley senior guard Garreck Chong said. “He didn’t start every game. He started off on the bench, but he’s always been there.
“He’s had some big games, and he just hits shots. We just rely on him to make threes and score for us.”
That’s part of Kelly’s job, too, and he eventually came through against Naperville North. He did it without hitting a 3-pointer, partially because the Huskies were keying on him. That left Martin operating in the shadows, which is a familiar and comfortable place for him.
“I love being in it because if they’re going to keep focusing in on him, if they go box-and-one, everyone else is wide open,” Martin said. “So I love that he’s such a good player that he can still overcome that. When everyone else is playing freely, it’s so nice for us.”
That was the case in the second half.
“We had that little run in the third quarter,” Chong said. “In these playoff games, all it takes is that little swing, and they never came back. We kept the lead.”
The Huskies did cut the gap to 38-35. But on the ensuing possession, Chong found Martin open on the left wing, and Martin hit a 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter.
“The coach was screaming ‘drive and kick’ the whole time, so he was open,” Chong said of his assist to Martin. “He got his rhythm and got some shots and made them.”
Martin, whose final shot was a layup to make it 49-38 with 1:11 left, said he wasn’t calling for the ball. Nor did he call his shot on the tide-turning 3-pointer.
“We were just running through the offense,” he said. “They were in that zone, so we were just trying to move it. Eventually it just got to me.
“I was open, so I just had that confidence that I was going to keep hitting.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
