Playing on teams that don’t have much success makes it tough for a player to gain attention. But when watching a Steinert High School boys’ basketball game, it’s hard not to notice forward Garrett Mazur.
The 6-foot-5 senior led the Spartans in scoring (13.4 points per game) and rebounding (5.4) through their 2-13 start this season. Last year, he paced the team in scoring at 14.3 points.
Steinert has competed well in nearly every game and has been in most contests until the end. But with the Spartans getting just seven wins from last year up until Feb. 8, Mazur was a well-kept secret.
“Garrett’s had a tremendous senior year,” head coach Joe Radice said. “He comes every day to practice ready to work. He works on the things we ask him to. He’s put up very solid numbers. He’s just putting together a phenomenal senior year.”
For Mazur, however, the stats are hollow when equating them to victories.
“We’re always trying to win, so it doesn’t matter if you score 40 points if you don’t win,” Mazur said. “It’s tough not winning.”
Radice is in his first year as the Spartans head man but has been with the program since Mazur came in four years ago. The coach, who grew up in gyms watching basketball and trying to get better, sees that same quality in his forward.
“From his freshman year he’s been a gym rat,” Radice said. “He’s been working hard. I was expecting to have a big year out of him. We knew we had three 6-5 guys coming back and we knew he was going to be our major scorer since that’s what he was last year. But we had to figure how we were going to get him the ball in positions where we could score because we were going to be inexperienced at the guard position.”
Therein lies one of Steinert’s issue. When Chris LaBelle, the Spartans’ only experienced point guard, transferred to Trenton Catholic Academy, it left Steinert vulnerable in the backcourt. On-the-job training can serve its purpose in a total rebuilding year but it’s a bit tough for a veteran frontcourt of Mazur, David Stec and Patrick Carr, who all stand 6-5.
On one hand, the presence of Stec and Carr helps Mazur, since there are a lot of bigs to have to worry about. But someone needs to get them the ball.
“The lack of experience at guard definitely makes it more difficult because you want to get the ball in a certain spot and if the guard can’t get the ball down to where he needs to get to to make the pass to you, it makes it very difficult to get the ball in a position where you can just turn and score,” Radice said. “For Garrett, if he could get the ball in the low block and just turn and make a lay-up, it would be a lot easier for him. But a lot of times he has to come out to about the elbow. He’s good enough to make that move and he can hit that jump shot, but it takes a lot more work to get him the ball.”
The coach added, however, that his big men have made an attempt to assist their backcourt. Their adjustments are what helped keep Steinert in games.
Despite always being tall, Mazur played baseball for most of his youth and did not begin in basketball until joining the Hamilton Little Lads at age 9. He would also shoot around with younger brother Mario at the YMCA.
“I didn’t like basketball much, probably until I started noticing I was pretty good and I just kept playing,” Mazur said.
When Mazur arrived at Steinert, he put up impressive numbers on the freshman team. He also honed a new skill—learning how to impersonate the Spartans’ freshman coach.
“He does the best Albert Mostrangeli impersonation of anyone,” said Radice, who urged Mazur to give a performance following a game in early February. (His impersonation was indeed spot on.)
That year, then-head coach Dave Perry asked Mazur to spend some time with the varsity squad. Mazur recalls staying after his freshman games to watch the upperclassmen play from the bleachers. Soon, Perry asked him to sit on the bench during games.
“Obviously, I wasn’t going to say no,” he said. “And then I got to go to some of their practices, too.”
As sophomore, Mazur split time between varsity and JV before becoming a full-time starter on last year’s varsity.
He showed an immediate ability to score and rebound, although he feels the latter aspect is sometimes as much about luck as skill.
“It’s just grabbing the ball and getting into position, just finishing the rebound,” Mazur said. “You can get into the best position you want. Sometimes it helps and other times it doesn’t. I feel like I get decent position sometimes and I’ll get the rebound, or sometimes I’ll get good position and I won’t get the rebounds. Sometimes I have terrible position and I’ll get the rebound.”
Whether he does or doesn’t grab the ball, Mazur is working hard at it.
He is also honing other areas of his game. This past summer he tried improving his mid-range jumper and also worked some on ball handling.
“When he comes with the fire to play you can’t contain him, he can finish,” Radice said. “He follows his own shot, he’s got a nice smooth jumper from the outside. He’s a pretty complete player.”
While Mazur’s high school career is over, he hopes that doesn’t mean the end of his basketball career.
Radice said Mazur will have to work on his two weaknesses, passing and ball handling, if he wants to continue.
“Besides that, he’s just dominant on the block, he can hit the outside jumper. He’s a very solid power forward,” Radice said. “I think he can play at a Division III school. Being 6-5, as hard as he works he should be able to play somewhere. Someone should be able to take him on a roster and develop him and the better he gets with his ball handling and passing, the sky’s the limit with him.”
Mazur agrees he will need to improve several skills. He has been in touch with some small Division III schools in Pennsylvania but may stay home for a year in order to map out his future.
“I don’t know what I want to do in terms of my major, so I don’t want to waste too much money,” he said. “Maybe if I could go [to Mercer] and just keep playing. I want to keep playing somewhere, regardless of where it is.”
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